



PRESENTED BY 






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A WINTER 



IN 



Central America 



AND 



MEXICO 



BY 



HELEN J. SANBORN 



BOSTON 
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 



■ 5l95 



Copyright, i88by 
By Lee and Shepard. 

All Rights Reserved. 



CENTRA! 'MERICA. 






■M 



I- 



PREFACE. 



The knights of old journeyed into distant lands 
to do deeds of chivalry ; the knights of to-day, 
more practical though not less courageous, go 
searching for the North Pole, for gold, for knowl- 
edge, for adventure ; but who of them has gone 
into distant, uncivilized lands in search of coffee ? 
Such was the errand of the two whose wanderings 
and observations are recorded in this little volume. 
The journey was undertaken by Mr. James S. 
Sanborn, of the firm of Chase and Sanborn, of 
this city, in the interest of the coffee business of 
that firm. The author went, as narrated in the 
first chapter, to be a companion to her father, and, 
as far as a limited knowledge permitted, to speak 
the Spanish language. On our return home, 
notes of our travels were published in the New 
England Grocer y for the interest of the trade. 

ill 



IV PREFACE. 

The publication of these in book form has been 
demanded so widely, by friends and strangers, that 
— well, here is the book ! 

Among the scores of books constantly coming 
into market, the writer feels that this one has no 
reason for being and no claim for attention, except 
from the fact that it treats principally of a coun- 
try and a people as yet but little known, and 
rarely visited or written about. The narrative is 
a true, unvarnished tale ; and our earnest desire 
and hope is that it may awaken in those who read 
a greater interest in, and regard for, that small, 
remote, almost unknown republic of Guatemala, 
which we shall always hold in loving remembrance. 

H. J. S. 

Boston, February, 1886. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

OFF FOR GUATEMALA! 

The Outlook — Discouraging Prospect — The Start — In the 
South — New Orleans — The Mississippi and the Gulf — 
Sea-sickness — A Sumptuous Repast — In the Caribbean 

— Our Indian Pilot — Arrival at Balize 7 

CHAPTER II. 

BALIZE, LIVINGSTON, AND THE CARIES. 

Tropical Luxuriance — Our Hostelry — An After-Dinner Drive 

— An Odd Cemetery — Business-hours — Livingston — 
Strange Sights — The Caribs — Carib Folk-lore — Leaves 
from Carib History — Race-qualities 19 

CHAPTER IIL 

A VOYAGE ON THE RIVERS DULCE AND POLOCHIC. 

The "Sweet River" — The " Golf ete" — Lake Izabal — Exor- 
bitant Duties — Inconsistency of Officials — Spanish Polite- 
ness—The Marimba— The Indian's Idea— In Crooked 
Ways — A World of Beauty — Bird and Beast — The Land 

of Mariana 31 

X 



4 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XII. 

CHARACTER AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE. 

Aztec and Toltec — Condition o£ the Indians — Picturesque 
Costumes — Woman in Guatemalan Society — Love-mak- 
ing — Embarrassing Admiration — Gambling and Drink- 
ing — A Hopeless Feature of Society — An Unflattering 
Picture — The Other Side — A Bird's-eye View of History 
— Recent Events 170 

CHAPTER XIII. 

GUATEMALA TO PANAMA. 

Rich Resources — Need of Railroads — Good-bye to Guate- 
mala — San Jose — Tremendous Surf — Fleecing — Tossed 
by the Billows — A Bitter-Sweet Experience — Two Fig- 
ures — Blissful Ignorance — A " Norther " — The " Peace- 
ful " Ocean 183 

CHAPTER XIV. 

PANAMA, ASPINWALL, AND THE ISTHMUS. 

The Hand of Providence — An Unhealthy Climate — A 
Wretched Night — Crossing the Isthmus — Colon — 
Drink and the Fever — Death in the Air — Tempted to 
Retreat — The Eloquence of Despair — A Fiery Furnace, 196 

CHAPTER XV. 

VOYAGE IN AN ENGLISH STEAMER. 

A Lawless State of Affairs — A Joyful Departure— A Mis- 
cellaneous Company — An Odd Little Baby — All An- 
chored on Deck — A Terrible " Blow " — Warnings of the 
" Norther " — Two Waifs — " The Flowing Bowl " — Two 
Sides of the Question — Sherry in the Pudding-Sauce — 
Eagerness for Land — A Kind and Thoughtful Captain . 207 



CONTENTS. 5 

CHAPTER XVI. 

ACROSS THE GULF TO VERA CRUZ. 

A Calm and Placid Voyage — Tired of the Sea— Importu- 
nate Boatmen — A Queer Old Place — Byron Recalled — 
A Spanish Cuisine — Street Scenes — Bandits — " The 
City of the Dead" — An Unwilling Sojourn 221 

CHAPTER XVII. 

A day's JOURNEY FROM COAST TO CAPITAL. 

The Vegetation of All Zones — A Tribute to Mexican Ser- 
vants — Wild Beauties — Snow-crowned Orizaba — A 
Vision of Eden — Marvellous Engineering — A Fairy 
Town — " La Boca del Monte "—A Mexican Caballero — 
In the Land of Cut-throats — On the Table-lands — En- 
veloped in Dust and Smoke — Extensive Stock-raising — 
A Famous Robber Town — A Helping Hand 232 

CHAPTER XVIIL 

CITY OF MEXICO. 

The Praises o£ Mexico — An Inviting Field for Tourists — 
Mexican Hotels — A Great Physical Change — A Beauti- 
ful Climate — The Venice of the Aztecs — A Splendid 
Pageant — Aztec Civilization — A Gifted People — Two 
Peoples Compared — Free from Care — The Power 
of Time Defied — The Vile "Lepero" — The Kindly 
"Aguador" 248 

CHAPTER XIX. 

IN AND ABOUT THE PLAZA. 

«Nieve" and Fruit-Drinks — " Pulque" — The Great Cathe- 
dral — A Gorgeous Interior — " Driving the Devil Out " 

— Vengeance upon Judas — The Mexican Passion-Play — 
A Perfect Picture — Missions in Mexico — The " Calendar 
Stone " — The Temple of Sacrifice — The National Palace 

— Petty Merchants — Haggling — Injured Innocence . . 263 



Q CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XX. 

RAMBLES ABOUT THE CITY. 

A Touch of Nature — Snail-paced Mexico — An Unweeded 
Garden — The Beauty of Mexican Women — Artistic 
Handiwork — The Grand National Museum — The Acad- 
emy of San Carlos — The National Pawn-Shop — Pro- 
crastination — A Song of To-morrow 279 

CHAPTER XXI. 

EXCURSIONS IN THE SUBURBS. 

The Shrine of Guadalupe — "The Tree of the Sad Night" 

— A Disastrous Retreat — Alvarado's Leap — Joy and 
Sunshine — Under a Spell — Floating Gardens — Our 
Last Indian Breakfast — Chapultepec — A Fine Boulevard 

— A Spanish Castle — A Lovely Valley — A Restful 
Scene — A Trysting Place 290 

CHAPTER XXIL 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 

Leaving Mexico — Beggars and Peddlers — A Mining Dis- 
trict — In the Desert — Crossing the Frontier — The Im- 
portance of Spanish— The Melody of Spanish — George 
Eliot on Spanish — Flexibility of Spanish — Special Uses 
of Spanish — A Strange Fascination — Reminders of 
Mexico — Kit Carson's Cabin — A Familiar Face — Home 
Again — Retrospection 305 



A WINTER IN CENTRAL AMERICA 
AND MEXICO. 



CHAPTER I. 

OFF FOR Guatemala! 

" Why don't you take your daughter Helen 
with you on your southern trip ? " 

This question was asked by a friend of the 
family as we sat chatting together in the library, 
one evening, about the journey which my father 
was soon to take through Central America and 
Mexico. 

My father replied, "I should be very glad to 
take anybody who could speak Spanish." 

" Oh, will you take me if I will learn Spanish t " 
I exclaimed, eagerly. " I will learn it before you 
go, if you will only promise to take me ! " 

Much to my own surprise the challenge was 
accepted, and, although fresh from college and 
longing for a glimpse of foreign lands, I felt a little 
dismayed, when I had time for deliberation, at 
the task I had set myself — to learn a language of 

7 



S THE OUTLOOK. 

which I knew not a word, and make all preparations 
for a long journey in the short space of less than 
three months which must intervene before our 
departure. However, of this I breathed not a 
syllable to any one, but went to work at once. 

We found in planning the journey the greatest 
difficulty, since it was next to impossible to gain 
any information about the countries we were to 
visit. It is truly surprising how very little the 
people of the United States know about Central 
America. Their knowledge of the North Pole or 
Africa is more extensive than of this rich portion 
of their own continent. The reason is obviously its 
great lack of facilities for travelling, for there are 
sufficient attractions to lure all classes of people, 
from the wealthy tourist to the poor boy " seeking 
his fortune." There is fine scenery for the travel- 
ler ; rich mines, valuable woods, and tropical fruits 
for the speculator ; rare plants, birds and animals 
for the naturalist ; wonderful ruins for the antiqua- 
rian, and a curious and interesting people for all. 
But these can be reached only by toilsome journeys 
on mule-back, and by a most decided experience of 
"roughing it," so that the country has hitherto 
been visited almost exclusively by seekers after 



DISCOURAGING PROSPECT. 9 

wealth, adventure, or scientific knowledge, and by 
only a few of these. 

Before we left home we found one or two per- 
sons who had been in Central America, and they 
gave us a most discouraging account of the hard- 
ships to be endured in that uncivilized country, 
where nearly all the inhabitants are Indians, and 
most of the travelling must be done in the saddle. 
One gentleman in particular declared that it was 
utterly unreasonable for a lady to attempt such 
a journey, and his judgment was corroborated by 
letters received from American consuls at different 
points, who, after explaining the dangers and diffi- 
culties to be encountered, always added as advice 
to my father, " Yon can probably take the journey 
very well, but we would strongly advise you not to 
bring yoitr daughter !' However, we were not to 
be daunted. I felt very sure that I could go wher- 
ever my father could ; and besides we did not 
believe more than half that was told us, although 
on our return we were ready to declare that the 
most highly colored accounts were no exag- 
geration. 

The largest and most important State of Cen- 
tral America is Guatemala, and the pleasantest 



10 THE START, 

and most common route is to go by the Pacific 
Mail steamer from New York to the Isthmus of 
Panama, cross the Isthmus by rail and take the 
Pacific Mail on the other side to San Jose, in 
Guatemala, whence there is a railroad to Guate- 
mala City, the capital. The other route is to sail 
from New Orleans to Livingston, in Guatemala, 
and cross the country on mule-back to Guatemala 
City. In this journey both routes were combined, 
as giving more variety and wider acquaintance 
with the country. We entered the country by the 
latter and left it by the former and more common 
route. 

We left Boston on a cold winter day from the 
New York and New England depot, by the Vir- 
ginia Midland route, passing through New York, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, 
Charlotte, Atlanta, and Mobile, to New Orleans. 
We spent a day each in Baltimore and Richmond, 
where we were most pleasantly entertained by 
friends ; but aside from this the journey through 
the Southern States was uninteresting. From 
the car windows one sees for the most part long 
stretches of rather barren fields and wretched 
negro huts, the monotony being broken only at 



IN THE SOUTH. II 

the Stations, where crowds of negroes are always 
hanging about, shouting and laughing. In many 
of the cities, however, building is constantly going 
on, business is brisk, and decided progress is 
shown in mercantile enterprises. With the people 
of the South we were most favorably impressed. 
We found them exceptionally social, warm- 
hearted, and obliging, and all the officials most 
kind and courteous, far exceeding Northern people 
in this respect. 

One hears about the war on every hand. Con- 
versation is full of "before the war," "during the 
war," and "since the war." The following story 
admirably illustrates this point : — 

It is said that Oscar Wilde, in his visit to the 
South, took a moonlight walk with a young lady, 
to whom he made the not very original but en- 
tirely sincere remark, — 

" How beautiful the moonlight is ! The moon 
never looked lovelier than it does to-night ! " 

To which the young lady replied with emphasis, 
"Oh, Mr. Wilde, you ought to have seen that 
moon * before the war' ! " 

In New Orleans we found the exposition in 
progress, but left it for our return trip, as we had 



12 NEW ORLEANS. 

but two days before the sailing of the steamer 
for Central America. We were mainly impressed 
with New Orleans as a very dirty city, having a 
climate rivaling that of New England, for the 
first day we were there was as mild as spring, and 
the second as cold as midwinter in Boston. 

The morning of our departure, on our way 
to the wharf, we were driven through most 
wretched streets, which gave no evidence of being 
repaired since the foundation of the city. They 
were full of ruts and mud-holes, which caused the 
coach to bang about in an alarming manner. In 
addition, we ran into a mule team, driven by a 
negro, who protested to our driver calmly but per- 
suasively, " If yo' kill dis mule, it'll cost yer 
mor'n dat load'll fetch yer." The threat was tell- 
ing, and we were finally extricated and landed at 
the wharf alive, but well shaken up. 

The steamer Wanderer^ on which we embarked, 
is a small steamer, of only 531 tons, and has poor 
accommodations for passengers, there being no 
saloon or promenade deck, and hardly space enough 
for a chair between the staterooms and railing. 

There was a goodly number of passengers on 
board, many of them attracted to Central America 



THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE GULF. 13 

by the railroad projected by President Barrios to 
be built from the coast to the capital. There 
were' but two ladies — how thankful I was that 
there were two, for I had feared there would be 
none — and with them and their husbands we be- 
came well acquainted and passed many pleasant 
hours. The two gentlemen were Scotch — one 
living in Montreal, and the other in British Hon- 
duras. 

For the first afternoon and evening we were on 
the Mississippi, and the boat moved as quietly as 
if on a pond. We saw the sugar plantations, rice 
fields, and levees, and had a glorious sunset. By 
half-past nine that evening the steamer had crossed 
the bar, and, as one of the Scotchmen said, began 
''to rock a wee bit." The next morning she was 
fairly out in the Gulf, tossing and pitching in a 
''chop sea," and everybody was sea-sick. One 
gentleman declared "the steamer could jump sixty 
different ways a minute, and perform more antics 
than an acrobat." In the Gulf of Mexico she 
found ample scope for her powers, for, as the old 
black stewardess said, "There's the devil in it 
sometimes." It is a most treacherous body of 
water j at times as quiet and peaceful as a lake, 



14 SEA-SICKJVESS. 

and then again as raging and tumultuous as a 
maelstrom. For a few hours we would sit quietly 
on deck, the water as smooth as glass ; then, sud- 
denly, without warning, we would be driven into 
our rooms by a shower of rain and a fearful tossing 
of the vessel. 

Nearly everybody on board was sea-sick for two 
days. My case was not one of the most serious, as 
I never for a moment longed to die or be thrown 
overboard, as I have been told is the experience of 
those severely afflicted. As soon as I could I 
crawled out and sat in a chair by my stateroom 
door. Then I began to wonder why my father was 
so quiet and did not appear at all to wish me 
"good morning" or see how I was. Just then I 
saw the steward carrying a little tray of tea and 
toast to him, and learned on inquiry, much to my 
surprise, that my father was a victim too. 

With no one to talk to I had no entertainment 
save that furnished by my fellow-passengers, and, 
although far from comfortable myself, was greatly 
amused by some of their experiences. In the 
adjoining stateroom was one poor fellow who was 
terribly sick, and his friends, who were suffering 
somewhat less, tried very hard to extend their 



A SUMPTUOUS REPAST. 1$ 

sympathy by occasionally appearing at the door 
and inquiring, " How are you now, Charlie ? " 
But this question, jerked out with great speed and 
vehemence, was the extent of their condolence, for 
they could never wait for an answer, but with the 
greatest eagerness hastened to avail themselves of 
the neighboring rail, that most valuable and popu- 
lar resort at such times. 

On the afternoon of the second day we had all 
sufficiently recovered to sit on deck, and think 
about having a little supper brought to us. How 
we discussed that supper beforehand ! A bride 
never gave more careful thought to her trousseau 
than our party of six to that meal ; for, although 
we had been fasting for a long time, we were not 
yet suffering the pangs of real hunger, and were 
greatly in doubt as to just what would meet the 
demands of the case. After much debate we pre- 
sented the steward with the following order : — 

Mr. P. — Potatoes and salt beef. 

Mrs. P. — Crackers and cheese. 

Mr. A. — Salt fish and boiled potatoes. 

Mrs. A. — Ice, celery, and salt! 

Mr. S. — Tea. 

Miss S, — Sardines. 



1 6 IN THE CARIBBEAN. 

Our anxious thought had not been in vain ; the 
meal was a perfect success, and we felt as if we 
had had a banquet. 

The fourth day we were in the Caribbean sea, 
and had a little respite from rocking. It was a 
beautiful day. The water was smooth and of a 
delicate sea-green color ; flying fish and sea-cranes 
were all about the vessel, and the peninsula of 
Yucatan was in sight. It is a desolate, uninhab- 
ited shore, with the wreck of a vessel visible, and 
an old ruined castle of stone, which has been there 
hundreds of years, but has long been tenanted only 
by sea-birds, which flock there in thousands. We 
passed one fishing vessel, and saw in the distance 
a steamer with all sails set. These were the only 
ships seen on the voyage, and Yucatan was the 
only point of land. 

After our calm day we hoped for a peaceful 
night's rest, but the wind blew a perfect hurricane 
all night, and the steamer creaked and snapped as if 
it were coming to pieces. Moreover, the machinery 
was out of order, and frequent stops were made to 
take soundings. This unpleasant state of affairs con- 
tinued until the afternoon of the fifth day, when we 
were nearing Balize, and were in calmer waters. 



OUR INDIAN PILOT. 1 7 

The sea all about here is full of dangerous 
coral reefs, and wrecks, which are very frequent, 
are -hailed with delight by the natives, who gladly 
plunder the lost vessel. As evening came on we 
saw many lights marking these numerous reefs, 
and at lo o'clock were opposite the "English 
Key," where an Indian pilot was to come on 
board. The captain whistled, and a small sail- 
boat appeared and came alongside. There were 
two Indians in the little boat, who seemed en- 
tirely overcome by the risk of their situation, and 
shouted to each other in most nervous, alarmed, 
and anxious tones while their boat was coming 
into position and the pilot was getting on board. 
The captain remarked, " These fellows haven't a 
bit of nerve; they fly all to pieces at the least 
excitement." 

The pilot was a short, squat Carib Indian, and 
everything — ship, lives, and cargo — was in- 
trusted to his hands. It was a bright starlight 
night. Everybody was on deck and perfectly 
quiet. The Indian, the wheelman, ship's pilot, 
and captain, all watched from the pilot-house, 
looking out upon the reefs toward the lights of 
Balize. The silence was broken only by the Ca- 



1 8 ARRIVAL AT BALIZE. 

rib's orders, given every few minutes. The 
steamer barely crept along, taking a crooked path, 
picking its way among the dangerous reefs. At 
last, at the end of two hours, just at midnight, 
the anchor dropped, and the gun proclaimed to 
Balize that the Wajiderer had come. 



CHAPTER II. 

BALIZE, LIVINGSTON, AND THE CARIES. 

There being no wharf at Balize, the steamer 
was obliged to anchor half a mile out, and wait 
for morning to land passengers, who go ashore 
in small sailboats that come out from Balize. 
Early in the morning we were awakened by a ba- 
bel of strange voices, in which only frequent cries 
of " Alick ! " " Alick ! " could be distinguished, 
and, on looking out, we found the steamer com- 
pletely thronged with negro boys on the alert 
for passengers. "Alick" was an active colored 
boy of some fifteen years, and seemed to be the 
leader of this numerous crowd. He had a good- 
sized sailboat, which he managed with the help 
of another boy, and we engaged him to take us 
across. The water was full of sharks, great ugly 
fellows, who completely surrounded the vessel, 
eagerly snapping at the food thrown out by the 
steward, and furnishing amusement for the col- 

19 



20 TROPICAL LUXURIANCE, 

ored boys, who were trying to shoot them with 
their old muskets. We naturally inquired into 
the ferocity of these sharks, as we were crossing 
in the sailboat, and were regaled with stories of 
men who had been tipped over and immediately 
devoured, or only escaped by leaving behind an 
arm or leg. But, besides sharks, these waters 
abound in very fine fish, and, on inquiring what 
was the best, "Alick" replied, ''Wall, for my 
eating, give me Jew fish," and we found no one to 
dispute his taste. 

From the sailboat we stepped directly into the 
yard of the International Hotel, and into the 
midst of tropical verdure. My father said at 
once, " How natural it looks, so hke the West 
Indies ! " But I had never been in the tropics 
before, and could only stand spellbound, lost in 
wonder at so new and strange a scene. There 
were most beautiful flowers, cocoanut, banana, 
bread-fruit and mango trees everywhere, but tur- 
key buzzards, lizards, and spiders, as well. To 
be sure, I had seen pictures of tropical plants, 
and single specimens in hothouses ; but that, 
after all, gave me a very slight idea of the reality, 
and I felt as if I had suddenly been transplanted 



OUR HOSTELRY, 21 

to another world, and could not realize that less 
than two weeks before I had been in snowbound 
New England, which was at that moment still 
wrapt in a mantle of snow. 

The hotel was a quite large white building, with 
broad piazzas on each floor, and made very open, 
so as to catch all the breezes. The landlord, a 
Scotchman, was kind, obliging, and entertaining, 
the very embodiment of chain-lightning in speech 
and motion, but little can be said in praise of the 
hotel. The beds were as hard as if constructed 
entirely of the native mahogany, and the table 
offered nothing but a very pretentious bill of fare, 
with no substantial equivalent. Still, one who 
has travelled in the tropics knows this to be char- 
acteristic, and refrains from complaining. How- 
ever, one circumstance was rather trying — we 
asked for some hme lemonade, and, because there 
were " no limes in the hotel," actually had to go 
without it, when there were bushels of limes 
within a stone's throw almost to be had for the 
asking. 

Balize is the capital of British Honduras, and a 
very old town, first settled in 1670, but never 
entirely free from trouble with the Spanish until 



22 AA^ AFTER-DINXER DRIVE. 

1783. The population is about five thousand, of 
which three hundred are whites, mostly Scotch, 
and the rest mainly negroes. The climate is 
warm, but considered healthy, the excessive heat 
being tempered by an east wind, which blows 
nine months out of the year. It is an important 
depot of British supplies, having a good position 
on the sea, and at the mouth of a navigable river, 
and exports tropical fruits, dyewoods, sarsaparilla, 
and mahogany. 

A drive of an hour after dinner showed us the 
whole place. The main street, which has but few 
branches, runs parallel with the sea, crossing the 
river by a bridge which is the great meeting-place 
of the people, and thronged morning and night by 
crowds of men and women. The better houses 
are all white wooden structures, but the negro 
huts are often most dilapidated, and just ready to 
tumble down. For a place of its size, there are 
many public buildings, a hospital, poorhouse, and 
insane-asylum, supported by the government, 
numerous schools and churches of various denom- 
inations. The natives are very constant attend- 
ants at church. Just opposite the hotel was a 
High Episcopal Church, which holds service three 



A A' ODD CEMETERY. 21 

times a day nearly ever}^ day in the week, and, 
when we were there, though it was a week day, 
was filled to overflowing at its third service. This 
extraordinary attendance would doubtless be mod- 
ified somewhat if there were a theatre or any 
place of amusement there. 

The cemetery is very odd looking, the dead 
being buried in brick vaults above the ground, 
from the fact that Balize is below the level of the 
sea. Burial takes place immediately after death, 
on account of the heat, and a little quicklime is 
put in each coffin, so that every^thing soon disap- 
pears, and the vaults can be cleaned out every 
seven years. The barracks are situated just out- 
side the town, in a rather pretty spot by the sea. 
Here places are arranged for bathing, all fenced in 
to keep out the sharks, which come and stick 
their heads through the opening when one ven- 
tures to bathe. 

The standing army consists of fifty men, all 
negroes ! They are very proud to be called "Brit- 
ish subjects," and will "sell their heads" for the 
honor of that title. 

The place is well governed, and the negroes 
are, for the most part, quiet and peaceable. The 



24 BUSINESS-HOURS. 

laws are very strict in regard to the observance of 
the Sabbath and the sale of Hquors. Licenses 
are granted, but no saloon is open Sunday, or 
after eight o'clock at night. This was the only 
place in all the journey, outside of the United 
States, where Sunday was observed at all. 

On account of the heat, nearly all business is 
done in the early part of the day. Meals are as 
follows: Coffee and bread, 5:30; breakfast, 9:30; 
dinner, 4:30. Ladies seldom go out between 
breakfast and dinner. By seven o'clock in the 
morning the market is quite deserted, as all fish 
and meat have to be disposed of as soon as possi- 
ble. Fish is caught at two or three o'clock in the 
morning, and all meat bought Saturday for Sun- 
day has to be parboiled and pickled. The market 
and all stores are closed at four in the afternoon, 
after which no one pretends to work. 

On the whole, Balize is a rather pretty place, 
and quite a centre of society and fashion, bearing 
much the same relation to this part of the 
country that Boston does to New England. 

The next afternoon we embarked once more, 
and in the morning were off Livingston, where we 
gladly left the Wanderer; although we were 



LIVINGSTON. 25 

sorry to part with the friends we had made, and 
felt very grateful to the officers and crew, who 
had,' by every kindness and courtesy, atoned in a 
great measure for the deficiencies of the steamer, 
and had done all in their power to make the 
voyage as pleasant as possible. 

Livingston is a port of Guatemala, at the mouth 
of the Rio Dulce (sweet river). It is a settle- 
ment of Carib Indians, there being only about 
twenty or thirty white people. It has a beautiful 
situation, and looks very pretty from the water. 
The land rises abruptly from the sea, curving 
in and out, and is everywhere covered with 
flowering plants and cocoanut trees. A steep 
path from the wharf leads up into the town, 
nearly all of which is visible from the water, and 
consists mainly of mud huts with thatched roofs. 
Here ''The Boston Tropical Fruit Company" has 
a warehouse and a small steamer ; their secretary 
lives here, and their plantations are a few miles 
distant. We found it exceedingly warm, and 
cared to stay on shore only a few minutes. The 
American consul, to whom we had letters of intro- 
duction, was ill, but we met the secretary of the 
Fruit Company, a Boston gentleman, and he gave 



26 STRANGE SIGHTS, 

US valuable information about the country which 
we were soon to penetrate, and the difficulties of 
travelling there, of which we were continually 
hearing more and more. Although we had pre- 
pared ourselves as well as possible for the journey, 
our equipments were still incomplete, for we were 
told that the country was so uncivilized, and the 
people lived in so primitive a manner, that in 
parts of the interior we should find none of the 
comforts and hardly the necessities of life, and 
that we must purchase hammocks and blankets if 
we wanted any place to sleep, and, what seemed 
queerest of all, must provide ourselves with 
knives and forks, in order not to be reduced to 
eating with our fingers. 

While my father was making necessary arrange- 
ments, I sat on the deck of the steamer, looking 
at the strange scene before me, this Indian pueblo 
in the heart of the tropics, and I could scarcely 
believe that what I beheld was real, so totally 
different was it from anything I had ever seen. 
Balize now seemed to me almost like home, this 
was in comparison so much stranger. When I 
looked at the flowers and trees, and the beauties 
that nature had go freely bestowed upon this spot, 



THE CARIBS. 2/ 

I wondered if I were in fairy-land ; but then there 
were no fairies, for the inhabitants of this land 
dwelt in mud huts and were dark enough to be 
goblins. I felt like pinching myself to see if I 
were awake or dreaming, and said to myself, 
*'Who am I?" "Where am I?" "Can this be 
a part of the same earth on which I dwell ? " 

Every moment now was bringing us to stranger 
and stranger sights, and I wondered with some- 
thing of apprehension as to what lay before us, 
and how we should fare when we came to pene- 
trate into this land and mingle with this uncivil- 
ized people. 

The Carib Indians that inhabit Livingston are 
a very interesting tribe, quite distinct and differ- 
ent from the other tribes of Central America, and 
worthy of special notice. There is some discus- 
sion as to their origin, but they probably sprang 
from the Arrawaks of the Orinoco, another branch 
of whom, the Araucanians, were the ancestors of 
the Peruvian Indians. 

The Caribs have a legend in regard to their 
origin ; and this legend, told me by a Hungarian, 
who himself gathered it from the lips of one of 
them, is somewhat as follows : — 



28 CARIB FOLK-LORE. 

One of the tribes of the Orinoco lived near a 
pond which was greatly troubled by a water-sprite, 
who afflicted the people in various ways. There 
was a pole to mark the spot where he dwelt, and 
it was believed that if any one touched this pole 
he would suffer the greatest harm. But the chief 
had a beautiful daughter, who was exceedingly 
bold and determined to defy the sprite's power. 
Accordingly she stole out one dark night to the 
pond, seized the pole and gave it a vigorous shak- 
ing, when, to the surprise of the half -frightened 
maiden, who was expecting to see some horrid 
monster, a beautiful youth appeared and dispelled 
her fears with words of love. They were after- 
wards married, and their sons were the origin of 
the Caribs. These sons inherited the turbulent 
spirit of the father and the bold adventurous spirit 
of the mother, and soon migrated to the neigh- 
boring islands, where they killed the men and 
married the women. This accounts for a fact 
which has greatly puzzled scientists, namely, 
that the men and women, even to this day, 
speak a different language, the men when to- 
gether considering it a deep disgrace to use the 
language of the women ; and if perchance o^r^ 



LEAVES FROM CARIB HISTORY. 29 

lets fall a word of the woman's talk, he is greatly 
jeered at. 

At 'the time of the discovery of America the Ca- 
ribs were the most important tribe on the coast of 
South America, and in the islands of the Carib- 
bean Sea, and were the cannibals that Columbus 
found and described. In the invasion of the 
Europeans they were very fierce and aggressive, 
and offered such a long and determined resis- 
tance that many of them perished^ At St. Vin- 
cent, one of their principal islands, a slave-ship 
was wrecked, and thus they became mingled 
with negro blood. In 1796 they were so trouble- 
some that the English transported them to 
Ruatan, on the coast of Honduras, whence they 
dispersed, one of their chief settlements being 
in Truxillo of Honduras. Afterward, when a 
controversy arose as to whether the civil or 
priestly authority should be supreme, the Caribs, 
siding with Carrera, the President of Guatemala, 
who supported the civil party, ran away from 
Truxillo, and came to Livingston, where they 
now number about one thousand. They have 
lost their old fierce and warlike character and 
are now quiet and peaceable. 



30 RACE-QUALITIES. 

■ They have an olive complexion, round heads, 
abundant black hair, usually straight, but some- 
times kinky ; they are short and squat, but 
strongly built, muscular and very erect. It is 
only lately that they have worn any clothing, and 
do so now only under compulsion from the govern- 
ment. The women are often handsome and have 
a queenly gait ; they frequently do the work while 
the men play the hero. The Caribs are specially 
noticeable for keeping themselves very distinct, 
and never intermarrying with other tribes. They 
have very strong family feeling, which is often 
troublesome to those who are dependent upon 
them for labor and supplies. For instance — they 
will not sell, at any price, their market goods until 
every Carib has first been supplied. They always 
work by the task, and will do a certain amount for 
small pay ; but when that task is done, even if it be 
in the morning, and they have earned but five 
cents, no amount of money would tempt them to 
do a stroke more. 



CHAPTER III. 

A VOYAGE ON THE RIVERS DULCE AND POLOCHIC. 

The steamer on which we embarked at Liv- 
ingston was one of an excellent line established 
within the last three years, running up the rivers 
Dulce and Polochic into the interior of Central 
America. The owners are enterprising men from 
the United States, who have had great difficulties 
to overcome in navigating these shallow, swift- 
running rivers, formerly traversed only by Indian 
canoes. The first steamer launched on these wa- 
ters was lost. The present one — a very commo- 
dious steamer, made to draw only about six feet 
of water — was built on the Pearl River, La., and 
brought by its adventurous owners away across the 
Gulf, reaching its haven only through much risk 
and danger. Before embarking we heard much of 
the fine scenery before us, and many on the Wa7i' 
derer had said, " I do wish I could take the sail up 
the river " ; still we had no idea of the wonder 
and beauty we were to behold. 

31 



32 THE ''SWEET RIVERr 

I was much troubled at first when I found I was 
to be the only lady passenger, but the officers and 
all on board did everything to make my position 
as pleasant as possible. 

We started in the afternoon up the Rio Dulce, 
and an enchanting view lay before us for several 
hours. There has been no surveying in this part of 
the country, so it is impossible to give exact meas- 
urements, but for at least ten miles the river runs 
through a canon, which is a wonderful curiosity, 
like our western canons, but far more beautiful, 
because instead of barren walls of rock is most 
luxuriant tropical verdure. The stream is very 
narrow and the banks rise exactly perpepdicular 
from the water hundreds of feet, covered with a 
perfect tangle of tropical trees, shrubs, and climb- 
ing vines, making two emerald walls of indescrib- 
able loveliness. Occasionally a limestone rock 
crops out, assuming fantastic forms, once like an 
old Spanish fortification and again forming '*las 
tiendas," an exact imitation of the stores of this 
country, even to the barred doors and windows, 
which were perfectly represented by leafless vines 
stretching across portions of the rock. The river 
is yery winding, aiid every turn reveals new beau- 



THE ''GOLFETEr 33 

ties. Once it makes a perfect elbow, called " The 
Maiden's Turn," and often bends so sharply that 
there* is no passage visible. To enhance still 
further the enjoyment of this scene, we were 
sailing under the blue sky of the tropics and in 
the midst of such peace and quiet as are found in 
the haunt of nature only. The puffing of the 
steamer, and our own voices were the only sounds 
to be heard, and an occasional Indian canoe glid- 
ing noiselessly by, or the flight of some startled 
bird, were the only signs of life. 

Leaving the canon the river suddenly broadens 
out into the '' Golfete," three or four miles wide 
and about fifteen miles long. Fair islands dot 
the surface, but only one is inhabited, and there 
are no signs of habitation on the shores. On 
either side is a range of mountains, branches of 
the Andes, and these beautiful and majestic forms, 
covered with lasting verdure, dotted with fleecy 
clouds, like little villages, and ever changing in 
color and appearance, were from this time until we 
left the country our constant companions, ever 
growing nearer and nearer, until at last we pain- 
fully climbed on mule-back to their very sum- 
mits. 



34 LAKE IZABAL. 

At the end of the " Golfete " begins Lake Iza* 
bal, and here, on a picturesque point, are a few 
Indian huts, and the remains of an old Spanish 
fort, " San Felipe," built long ago to ward off the 
ravages of pirates. There is a farce of a custom- 
house here, and we were obliged to stop for a little 
boat, containing three natives, to come out and 
examine the ship's papers. This assumption of 
authority on the part of such ignorant and unciv- 
ilized beings seemed very laughable, but they 
doubtless thousrht in those few instants of time 
they had exercised great power and covered them- 
selves with glory. Unused as yet to the country 
and the natives, we foolishly asked, ''What do the 
people do here } " and the answer was, " Nothing ; 
they lie in the sun and dream away their lives." 

Lake Izabal is a beautiful sheet of water, twelve 
miles broad and thirty-six miles long, one of the 
largest lakes in Guatemala. It was calm and 
peaceful that afternoon, but the captain told us it 
was often wrought into fury by winds from the 
mountains, and became both tumultuous and dan- 
gerous. 

About two-thirds up the lake is the pueblo of 
Izabal, composed, of course, of mud huts, and 



'EXORBITANT DUTIES. 35 

having a population of about six hundred. The 
captain, a young man, recently married, lives here 
with His wife, and they and a few relatives consti- 
tute the white population. Like most of these 
Indian villages it has a beautiful situation, for the 
Indian is a true lover of nature, and never fails to 
select the fairest spot he can find for his home. 

In the time of Cortes it was renowned as a 
pottery market and is so still, the Indians who go 
on pilgrimages to Esquipulas coming here to sell 
their pottery. It is also one of the chief ports of 
Central America, and the seat of the custom- 
house, Livingston being a free port. This custom- 
house is conducted on very peculiar principles, the 
officers being natives, very ignorant and often 
unreasonable. Three of them, dark, barefooted, 
unintelligent looking fellows, came on board, fairly 
grinning in their authority, enough to make any 
one rebellious at the thought of having such men 
go through his baggage. Duties are levied ac- 
cording to weight, which makes some charges 
very exorbitant. A German in Guatemala told us 
it cost him over $200 to get a cooking-stove 
through, an article entirely unknown in this coun- 
try. Powder and firearms are regarded with the 



36 INCONSISTENCY OF OFFICIAIS. 

greatest suspicion, on account of the frequent 
insurrections, and the duty on a common pistol is 
^6.00. A young man on board our steamer, a 
native of the country, just returning from a visit 
to the United States, had to pay $22.00 on a few 
little articles, such as pictures and ordinary look- 
ing-glasses, a great deal more than they had cost 
him. The officers are also very particular that the 
goods correspond exactly to the written statement, 
and if there is the least difference the whole is 
confiscated. A merchant in the interior lost a 
box of paint brushes because there were four or 
five less in the box than was stated in the inven- 
tory. Moreover these officers are as inconsistent 
as they are unreasonable, sometimes performing 
their duty with the utmost rigidity, and at other 
times, if they happen to feel lazy or good-natured, 
letting almost anything pass. This happened to 
be the case with our baggage, which they did not 
examine at all ; luckily for us, perhaps, for accord- 
ing to their other caprices we should have had to 
pay about a thousand dollars, our equipments for 
the journey into the interior being extensive. 

We spent all day Sunday at Izabal, and, al- 
though it was very warm, went on shore to see 



SPANISH POLITENESS. 37 

the place, a thing which was soon accomplished. 
In the morning the fife and drum called out the 
whole town in review, for every man is a soldier. 
The barracks were in the prettiest spot, at a little 
rising in the back of the town, but the army, con^ 
sisting of dark, ragged, and barefooted men, was 
far from formidable. The hotel was the usual 
mud hut with one room, but the landlord had the 
manners of a titled lord, and received us with a 
great show of politeness, saying, in Spanish, 
" My house is yours, gentlemen." That being 
the case, we thought we would test his unbounded 
generosity with a request for some lemonade, the 
ingredients of which — limes, sugar, and water — 
were almost as cheap there as mud. Four glasses 
were duly prepared, and the landlord was pre- 
sented with a dollar, which he calmly pocketed, 
returning no change. Evidently, if the house was 
ours, the lemonade was his, and we felt a little dis- 
gusted with our first lesson in Spanish politeness. 
This is often the effect on Americans, who fail to 
appreciate such etiquette. An amusing story is 
told of a Yankee who proceeded to ride off with a 
very valuable horse, after the owner had said, 
"That horse is yours, sir," and was only stopped 



38 THE MARIMBA. 

by greatest entreaties on the part of the owner, 
who was ever after very careful about being polite 
to Americans. 

That evening we heard for the first time the 
national instrument, or '' marimba," composed of 
strips of wood of different lengths, from which 
hollow tubes of wood are suspended, the whole 
being mounted on legs and played by three men, 
who strike it with little sticks. The music is 
very sweet, sounding like a stringed instrument 
with something the depth of a drum. It sounded 
exceedingly beautiful that night as the strains 
floated across the lake to our steamer. 

At Izabal we parted with some of the passen- 
gers, but the most interesting remained : one of 
the owners of the line, who proved an invaluable 
friend all the time we were in Guatemala ; an 
elderly man, a Hungarian by birth, who gave me 
much information about the country ; the son of 
a Boston clergyman ; and a young " Guatemalte- 
can," who afterward proved of the greatest assist- 
ance to us in our overland journey. 

A sail of an afternoon brought us to the mouth 
of the Polochic, and into "the wilds of Central 
America." It was a lonely, swampy place, with 



THE INDIAN'S IDEA. 39 

swarms of mosquitoes, myriads of green parrots, 
and monkeys, and baboons, that shrieked and 
howled as loud and strong as so many lions. 
Here we had to change steamers, and wait for 
morning, because it is not possible to navigate the 
Polochic in the night. The steamer to which we 
were to change awaited our arrival, guarded by a 
single lone watchman, the only human being 
within fifty miles. This steamer was smaller 
than the other one, but equally pretty, and was 
made fiat-bottomed, to draw as little water as 
possible. It was the first steamer ever built in 
Guatemala, and of course a great wonder to the 
Indians, who used to come in crowds to see it. 
A description given by one of them to a com- 
panion may be interesting : " It is bigger than 
two churches put together, and has a big kettle in 
it always boiling. The man makes it ' toot, toot,' 
it wags its tail, and off it goes faster than an 
Indian can trot." 

We started early next morning, and had a beau- 
tiful sail all day. The Polochic proved to be a 
very curious river, a winding mountain-stream, 
very shallow, full of snags and ever-changing 
sandbars, and with a swift current, making it 



40 IN CROOKED WAYS. 

very difficult of navigation. Then, in addition, it 
is the most crooked stream in the world, al- 
ways curving, and winding, and turning upon 
itself, sometimes making actual double bow-knots. 
These windings make it the more interesting, and 
often we were to all appearances in a very small 
pond, completely hemmed in by mountains before 
and behind, with no possible exit visible. The 
turns are in many cases so abrupt that the 
steamer actually touched the bank, and had to be 
pushed off by poles, the men being all prepared, 
and acting just at the right moment to prevent its 
getting aground. What is still more remarkable, 
it is possible to sail for an hour or more, and make 
only a few feet real progress in the onward direc- 
tion. We once looked through a little bower 
made by the vines, and actually saw right beside 
us a portion of the river on which we had sailed 
an hour before. A certain lady, when asked her 
opinion of the Polochic, replied, "When the 
crooked ways are made straight, I think there will 
be a great deal of work to be done on the Polo- 
chic." 

The land all about was low and moist, and 
teeming with vegetable and animal life. There 



A WORLD OF BEAUTY. 4 1 

were many valuable woods, as mahogany, and 
many curious trees ; the ^' ceiba," distinguished 
among all others by size and appearance, being in 
shape a mushroom with branches at right angles ; 
a locust without branches to the height of 
seventy or eighty feet ; and a tree called '' pa- 
caya," bearing nuts in a cluster, like grapes. 
There was a great profusion of vines, at least 
twenty varieties, many of which were covered 
with beautiful flowers, filling the air with fra- 
grance. Some were like our morning-glory, but 
open all day, and of all shades of color ; some 
were trumpet-shaped, and of a bright red color ; 
others were like our cultivated arbutulum, but far 
larger and richer. The vines twined themselves 
over every dead stump and old tree, transforming 
them into beautiful bowers, Corinthian columns, 
or arches of delicate green. 

There were many rare birds : cranes, black and 
white ; the " Quaca Mayor," with a brilliant red 
breast ; a beautiful blue kingfisher, who always 
gave to his fellows the warning signal of our 
approach ; exquisite humming-birds, of which 
there are thirty-six varieties ; and flocks of green 
parrots, flying through the air with loiid chatter- 



42 BIRD AND BEAST. 

ing. Monkeys and baboons were visible in the 
trees, and on the banks and sandbars were num- 
bers of hideous alligators quietly sunning them- 
selves, until aware of our approach, when with 
one plunge they disappeared in the water. Liz- 
ards of every variety and color, including igu- 
anas, were abundant. The latter are loathsome 
looking creatures, clothed in scales like an alliga- 
tor, with a long tail, a pouch under the throat, 
and spines along the back. They are sometimes 
five feet long, and of different colors, green, 
yellow, and fox-color, though usually hard to dis- 
tinguish from the branches of the trees to which 
they cling. They live on vegetable food, the 
mangrove tree being their favorite, but they have 
a hole in the ground, to which they retire in the 
wet season. The eggs and flesh are greatly prized 
for food, the meat being white and tender, and 
much like chicken. 

At 4 p. M. we reached the head of navigation, 
and the wretched Indian village of Panzos, which 
was hot, damp, and swarming with mosquitoes 
and sand-flies, very tiny creatures, whose bite is 
far worse than that of the mosquito. 

There were only two persons here who spoke 



THE LAND OF MANANA. 43 

English, the agent of the line and his wife, a 
young couple who were the picture of content- 
ment in this miserable place, where several fami- 
lies before them had been unable to live. 

The hotel was a mud hut of one room, but, for- 
tunately for us, the steamer was obliged to wait 
for a load of coffee from the interior, and we most 
thankfully accepted the captain's invitation to 
remain on board. 

From Panzos we were to start on our trip 
across the country to Guatemala City, and, having 
previously learned that we could not obtain even 
a mule at Panzos, had taken the precaution to tel- 
egraph from Izabal into the interior for a carriage 
if it could be obtained, or, if not, for mules, and 
we had hoped to find them, with a guide, await- 
ing us. They had not come, of course, and with 
a longer experience in the country we should not 
have expected it, for we were now in the land of 
manana (to-morrow), and, whether patiently or im- 
patiently, wait we must. 



CHAPTER IV. 

LIFE AMONG THE INDIANS. 

The Indians with whom we were now to eat, 
sleep, and travel, are entirely different from those 
of North America, being a peaceable, honest, 
docile, and cleanly race ; not a warlike, but an 
agricultural people ; not nomadic, but living in 
villages ; not savage, but semi-civilized ; tilling 
the soil, weaving cloth, making pottery and build- 
ing houses. They are of a brown or copper 
color, with black hair and eyes, low foreheads, 
but without the prominent cheek-bones, and with 
kind, pleasant, and often handsome faces. They 
are noticeably small, being below medium height, 
squarely built, and with small hands and feet. 
They are so honest and peaceable that Central 
America is the safest place in the world in which 
to travel, and altogether to an American, with our 
idea of the Indian as a painted savage, they are 
quite an attractive people. But the poor things 

44 



BEASTS OF burden: 45 

are the " beasts of burden " of the country, pack 
mules being so rare that almost everything is 
transported on Indian backs, the amount they 
carry being wonderful. The burden is placed in 
a wooden cage or basket, to which a strap is at- 
tached and passed around the head, so that the 
weight comes upon the forehead. In this man- 
ner, with a weight of over a hundred pounds, 
they trot off at a queer but rapid pace, making 
twenty and twenty-five miles daily, and for this 
arduous work they are never paid more than a 
"real" (twelve and one-half cents) a day. Much 
of the coffee is brought in this way from the in- 
terior down to the ports ; thousands of dollars are 
entrusted to them, the merchant simply saying, 
" Your cargo is money," and not one dollar was 
ever lost or stolen. 

One of the most peculiar characteristics of 
the Indians is their silence and stolidity in the 
presence of the white man, though, when not 
aware of his presence, they will talk and laugh 
uproariously, and are really a very social race, al- 
ways going in companies in their travels. They 
are very proud, and guard themselves most care- 
fully against any expression of surprise, admira- 



4^ INDIANS AND LADINGS. 

tion, or wonder. We had an excellent example of 
this while at Panzos, in observing a party of Ind- 
ians who had just come down from the country, 
and had never seen the steamer before. They all 
came down to the bank, and gazed at it earnestly 
and carefully for at least fifteen minutes, evi- 
dently "taking it all in," but never exchanging a 
word with one another, or allowing their faces to 
express the slightest emotion, though they must 
have been overwhelmed with astonishment at so 
strange and stupendous an object. 

These Indians constitute five eighths of the 
population of Guatemala, the rest being mainly 
" ladinos," of mixed Spanish and Indian blood, 
there being comparatively few descended directly 
from the old Spaniards ; even President Barrios 
himself had a dash of Indian blood in his veins. 
The poorer classes of these "ladinos" are little if 
any superior to the Indians, and often lazier and 
dirtier. They always speak Spanish, while the 
Indians retain their own language. 

On the evening of the second day in Panzos we 
were rejoiced to hear that the carriage had come, 
and walked up the road to inspect it. It was the 
only carriage between here and Guatemala, a dis- 



TRA VELLING IN STYLE 47 

tance of over two hundred miles, and had formerly 
been used on the Pacific side, until the railroad 
drove its owner with his coffee wagons and mules 
into the interior. This carriage had to be taken all 
to pieces and transported on Indians' backs across 
the mountains, a distance of over a hundred miles, 
whence the road was wide enough for it to be used. 
It was a large, strong, two-seated, covered vehicle, 
resembling a beach wagon, but furnished with a 
strong iron brake for the mountains, and com- 
pletely covered with mud inside and out ; never- 
theless, the captain assured us that in this " turn- 
out" we should be travelling "in style." It was 
drawn by two stout mules, and the driver was a 
young 'Madino," a happy-go-lucky, rather capable 
fellow, wearing clothes of an odd coarse cloth, 
with a bright red scarf about his waist, which gave 
him rather a jaunty appearance. 

We arranged with him to start at five o'clock 
sharp in the morning, so as to avoid travelling in 
the heat of the day, and I fought mosquitoes more 
cheerfully that night than usual, because it was 
the last. Next morning we were ready at the 
appointed time, but six o'clock came and seven, 
still no carriage appeared. Finally, about eight 



4^ A REFRACTORY MULE. 

the boy drove up ; not at all abashed by his tardi- 
ness, for, like the rest of the people in this coun- 
try, he was probably never "on time" in his life, 
and never expected to be. On being questioned, 
he said " Dolly " (one of the mules) got away in 
the night, and he had been hunting for her several 
hours. It was no use scolding, and we started off 
as cheerfully as possible, but we had not gone two 
rods before we stopped, and the boy got out and 
began to tie up a broken whiffletree, which from 
all appearance had been half-broken several days, 
but which he would never have thought of mend- 
ing until we got started and it gave out entirely, 
even if he had been in Panzos a week with noth- 
ing else to do. 

Very soon I ventured to address a few words in 
Spanish to the driver, for I knew the time had 
come when I must do all the talking, and we 
should be in a sorry plight if I failed. To my joy, 
he understood me, and I understood his answer. 
He did not speak a very clear or grammatical 
Spanish ; and if mine sounded odd to him he was 
too polite to betray it by the slightest expression, 
and treated my attempt as if he thought I had 
spoken Spanish all my life. After a few hours we 



A TERRIBLE ROAD. 49 

got accustomed to each other so we could talk 
very well: I could ask all that was necessary; and 
if at any time I did not understand, he would take 
the greatest pains to explain to me until I did. 

In a short time we were out of Panzos and 
jouncing up and down over a terrible road. It 
was considered to be in a pretty good condition, 
as this was the dry season ; but the worst Ameri- 
can country road, in the spring, multiplied by 
one hundred, would be only an approximation to 
this road that first day. There were great mud- 
holes into which one wheel would disappear 
entirely, while the other was elevated several feet 
in the air, and as a consequence one of us was 
almost landed on the ground while the other sav- 
agely grasped the side of the carriage, and tried 
to hang suspended from above. Considering that 
one of us weighed 260 pounds and the other only 
140, the seriousness of the situation when the 
**fat man's" side tipped up may be fully appreci- 
ated. What prevented the wagon from tipping 
over is a mystery, but the boy assured us it cojtld 
not upset; and there must have been something 
in the construction which rendered it a physica] 
impossibility, for there was every opportunity for 



50 SPANISH JARGON. 

performing this feat. Many times we got out and 
walked ; many times we were stuck in bogs where 
it seemed as if we could not possibly advance ; 
but the mules were brave and stout ; and summon- 
ing all their energies, would draw us out safely 
and neatly, where four horses would have failed 
utterly. '' Cassimir," the driver, did his part well, 
and worked nearly as hard as the mules, shouting 
and urging them on. His Spanish jargon so 
amused us that we sat and laughed even in the 
most perilous places. It was something after this 
fashion, as near as it can be reproduced: " Hyba 
inula, hyba soldar, Jiyba colleela, hyba ! " When 
very much excited and in a most difficult spot, he 
would stand up, use the whip vigorously, and 
shout at the top of his voice, '' Hydja, cerca, soldar 
holda colleela I " which, with the addition of much 
crowing and screaming, and calling of " Dolly" and 
"Selosa" (the names of the mules), was exceed- 
ingly funny, and diverted us for several days. 

We reached our first stopping-place, excepting 
mud-holes, about noon — a place called " Teleman," 
which consisted of a few mud huts. As we drove 
up, the young " Guatemaltecan " who had been 
with us on the steamer came out to meet us with 



A VALUED FRIEND, 51 

his hands full of fruit, and his " sweet oranges " in 
English was a welcome sound. As he proved to 
be dii invaluable friend to us in the journey, and 
as he illustrates the character of the best class 
among the natives, he is worthy of special notice. 
He was a youth of twenty-one or two, of medium 
height and slender, with the usual complexion of 
the country, very black hair and eyes, and a very 
dark skin, but was, on the whole, rather fine look- 
ing. He bore a Spanish name, and his dress and 
manners were those of a polished gentleman. He 
belonged to one of the first families, his father 
being secretary to the "jefe" (Governor) of one 
of the principal districts of Guatemala. He had 
been in the United States three months, where he 
had learned a little Enghsh, and was now return- 
ing home to one of the interior towns, having had 
to wait in Panzos for his own horse to be sent him. 
He had travelled with us all the way from New 
Orleans, but we had spoken with him only once or 
twice, as he knew but little English and was very 
bashful and retiring, so that we were surprised as 
well as much pleased when he awaited us here and 
signified his purpose to accompany us, and serve 
us in our journey. 



52 NEW DIFFICULTIES. 

After a short rest at Teleman we went on again, 
in the same see-saw fashion, the young man going in 
advance to have dinner ready for us when we should 
arrive at the next place, we having so far subsisted 
on a lunch from the steamer. All the time we 
were surrounded by a beautiful tropical growth, 
but our unexpected and intermittent risings and 
fallings rather interfered with our enjoyment of the 
scenery. In about the middle of the afternoon 
we came upon a great tree lying right across the 
road ; and at the sight our hearts sank within 
us, for the road all the way had been narrow, with 
an embankment on one side and thick woods 
on the other, so we thought we were completely 
blockaded twenty miles from a hut or Indian. 
Under these trying circumstances what did that 
driver do but sit back in the wagon and laugh as 
hard as he could. Not being of his careless dis- 
position, and failing to see any joke about it, 
we hastily made investigations, and to our own 
surprise found a path at the side of the road, 
among the trees, through which the carriage was 
just able to pass ; and fortunate enough it was, for 
there was not another spot for miles where this 
would have been possiblg, 



IN THE ''CABILDOr 53 

Without further mishaps we reached " La 
Tinta," at seven o'clock in the evening, and 
found a wretched place, one of the worst of these 
miserable Indian towns, without even the usual 
mud hotel of one room. Arriving there in the 
dark, in a place so unknown, amidst a strange 
people, with peculiar customs and a foreign lan- 
guage, we felt when we got out of the carriage 
like two lost and bewildered waifs, knowing not 
what to do or which way to turn. But our young 
friend soon appeared and relieved us of further 
anxiety. He led the way to the " cabildo," a 
government building found in every town, a free 
stopping-place for all the Indians travelling with 
burdens. It corresponds somewhat to our City 
Hall, and is the headquarters of the " coman- 
dante," a government official who has all the 
Indians under his control. This building was of 
mud, but whitewashed, and consisted of one room, 
with the ground for a floor. There was a bench 
running around the room, a large rough wooden 
table, on which a candle was burning, and this was 
all. We learned in a few minutes the force of the 
oft-repeated Spanish phrase, ''no hay" (there is 
none), for in the whole village there was not a bed, 



54 FRUGAL FARE. 

or any article of furniture, no knives and forks, 
and hardly a dish in which to eat, not a basin of 
water to bathe our faces, in fact none of what we 
considered the necessaries of life ; and, worse than 
all, no English language. What we should have 
done here without our Spanish friend I am sure I 
do not know. Our driver was perfectly careless of 
us and concerned only for his mules. At that 
time of night no one would have given us any- 
thing to eat, we should not have known where to 
go or what to do, and certainly should have had a 
most wretched experience had it not been for this 
young man's kindness. In that miserable mud 
hut he seemed like a prince, and his words of 
Spanish like so much magic as he gave orders to 
one after another, who hastened to do his bidding. 
In a short time he had dinner before us, having 
procured fried eggs, "frijoles," "tortillas," and 
coffee, from a neighboring house, and dishes, 
knives and forks, and some eatables from his own 
trunk. "Frijoles," "tortillas," and "cafe" con- 
stitute the living of the Indians, as they never 
have meat except on feast days. The frijoles are 
stewed black beans, and taste very much like "Bos- 
ton baked beans"; the "tortillas" are a coarse 



PRIMITIVE COUCHES. 55 

cake of the simplest kind. They are made from 
corn which is ground between two stones, just as 
it was in Egypt in the time of the IsraeUtes. The 
corn is then moistened and patted between the 
hands until a round flat cake is formed, which is 
baked on a thin sheet of iron over a charcoal fire. 
These articles of food we had every day for ten 
days while we were travelling to Guatemala City, 
and it was exceedingly fortunate that we were not 
Epicureans. 

After dinner, as there was nothing to induce us 
to sit up but a flickering tallow candle, we swung 
our hammocks for the night.. The " Indians," 
who were carrying the young man's baggage, and 
of whom there were several, had already spread 
their " petates " (straw mats) on the ground, and 
were asleep just outside the door. Our driver had 
spread a little piece of blanket right in the dirt in 
the middle of the road, and was also asleep near 
the carriage, to which the mules were tied. Al- 
most completely exhausted as we were by our long 
ride over such a road, our hammocks did not seem 
like very downy couches, but we slept until about 
five o'clock, when the Indians roused us preparing 
for their day's tramp. We were anxious, too, to 



5 6 THE NATIVE BEVERAGE. 

start, but the boy and one mule were missing and 
did not appear until between seven and eight 
o'clock, when he came leading the refractory 
"Dolly," saying he had been hunting for her 
since three o'clock. Thereupon it was immedi- 
ately determined to end " Dolly's " nightly excur- 
sions if possible, and two stout lassos were 
obtained and given to the boy, and after that we 
had no more trouble of this sort. At last the 
mules were harnessed, but the boy still lingered ; 
and, when asked the reason, said he " had not 
taken his coffee," and we saw by his whole atti- 
tude that our journey would not begin until after 
that important event. Everybody here invariably 
begins his day with a cup of coffee, and the man- 
ner of preparation is both peculiar and interest- 
ing. The coffee is burned over a charcoal fire 
until black and bitter, then it is ground and put 
with water until the whole strength is extracted, 
and a strong, black tincture of coffee is the result. 
Enough is made to last a week and it is put on 
the table every meal, either cold in a bottle, or 
sometimes heated and brought on in a pot. Only 
a little is poured into the cup, which is then filled 
up with hot water, and there is no milk, and rarely 



A FAIRY'S BOWER. 57 

sugar, except in the larger towns. At first it 
tasted very bitter, and we had difficulty in drink- 
ing it at all, but after a while got accustomed to it 
and drank it freely three times a day, as everybody 
does here. Indeed, in the malarial districts it is 
said to be most excellent, acting like a tonic, with 
almost the efficacy of quinine and none of its 
bad effects. 

The second day the road was in a better condi- 
tion, though gradually ascending. At noon we 
stopped to rest at a most charming spot, beauti- 
ful enough for a fairy's bower. The scene is one 
of the loveliest among the many pictures which 
often rise before my mind. On one side was a 
steep embankment, at the foot of which a moun- 
tain torrent roared and foamed over the stones ; 
on the other was a wide opening in the green hill- 
side, through which trickled a little stream, whose 
banks were covered with most beautiful flowers, 
delicate mosses and ferns. By the stream an 
Indian and his wife and baby were sitting, making 
a picturesque group in their bright colored cos- 
tumes. They evidently regarded us with much 
interest, not unmixed with admiration ; and, when 
my father patted the baby on the cheek and 



58 TUCURU. 

put a piece of money into its hand, seemed as 
delighted as the child, which crowed in great glee. 
We stopped here only long enough to rest, al- 
though I would gladly have lingered, and rose 
very reluctantly when Cassimir, having finished 
his nap, signed to us to resume our ride. At 
night we arrived at a small Indian town, " Tu- 
curu," four thousand feet above the sea, and 
stopped at a mud hut, the best in the town, and 
the place where travellers usually stop. The wo- 
man of the house was an ugly, rude, disagreeable 
creature, who was smoking a large cigar and spit- 
ting on the floor. But there were several pleas- 
ant-looking girls, and one man who was quite 
agreeable, and who, we found out afterward, was 
only staying there for a short time, and was 
" very rich " for this country. We had a better 
dinner here than usual, there being some fowl in 
addition to the other fare, and we also had cot 
beds for the night, though we all slept in the same 
room with the family. 

The cots which were furnished us here, and 
which we were able to obtain in most of the towns 
(although often there were not more than three in 
a whole village), we found preferable to hammocks. 



FINE SCENERY. 59 

They were most simple in construction, consisting 
merely of a rude wooden frame with strips of raw- 
hide, tacked across, and covered with a straw mat, 
which was the only bedding. We had to furnish 
our own blankets for covering, and for a pillow 
used either a handbag or coat or shawl, though 
usually the nights were so chilly that we needed 
all our wraps to keep us comfortable. Of course, 
on such hard beds, obliged to sleep in all our 
clothing, we could get very little rest, but we 
were always so completely exhausted at the 
end of a day's ride that we could have slept 
on a stone. 

The third day the road was still ascending, and 
often so steep as to be almost frightful, but com- 
manding fine views, for we were winding in and 
out among the mountains, and were sometimes on 
the 'brink of a steep precipice at the foot of which 
a little mountain-stream ran, or could look down 
hundreds of feet and see below us the road on 
which we had come, while there were still heights 
above to climb. All the way was bordered by 
tropical trees and flowers, such as grow in our hot- 
houses, and we had frequent glimpses of tiny 
waterfalls and cascades, and rockeries covered 



with delicate mosses and ferns, more beautiful 
than any garden in America can furnish. 

We made our first stop at noon, at Tamaju, five 
thousand feet above the sea ; the usual Indian 
town, somewhat larger than we had been in before, 
and the first to boast of a church. Cassimir then 
informed us, much to our astonishment, that we 
could go no further that day, for the mules were 
very tired, in fact Selosa was nearly exhausted, 
and before us was a great mountain, higher than 
any we had yet climbed. At the announcement 
the usual shower of questions which attended 
every arrival and departure, and in fact was kept 
up at intervals throughout the whole day, I was 
obliged to interpret for my father, until I was 
nearly worn out. " What's the name of the next 
place ? " " How far is it > " " How long will it 
take to get there ? " " What kind of a place is 
it.?" "Are there any beds?" " Is the road bad ? " 
'•' Can't we go a little farther ? " But urging and 
questioning were vain, the boy was firm, and we 
had learned from experience to trust to his judg- 
ment. One curious thing was observable, he 
never could tell the distance of one place from 
another, always in his answer using the words 



OCCUPYING A JAIL. 6 1 

" tal vez " (perhaps), and evidently guessing the dis- 
tance, sometimes very wildly, but he could always 
tell, almost to a minute, w^hen we would arrive at 
a given place, and was very proud of this accom- 
plishment. 

We found in the comandante of this place a 
real gentleman, who received us very cordially, 
and began at once to make arrangements for our 
comfort, sending word to his home, near by, for his 
wife to prepare breakfast, and having cot beds 
brought into the cabildo for us. It happened, as 
is the case in towns of any size, that the cabildo 
consisted of two rooms, one being a jail, and, as 
this was empty, he politely placed it at our disposal, 
leaving us a little in doubt at first whether to feel 
like tramps or honored guests with a spare room. 

Our breakfast was ready sooner than usual, for 
the senora had numbers of Indian girls for ser- 
vants, all of whom she set at work, and we had, 
comparatively speaking, a good meal, for there 
are degrees of difference in tortillas, frijoles, and 
fried eggs, and besides we had the addition of 
some meat, which, however, was so tough that we 
preferred to consider it rather for ornament than 
use. We were waited on by young Indian maid- 



62 OUR FRIEND LEAVES US. 

ens, who stole noiselessly in and out like so many- 
dusky phantoms, but ministered to all our wants 
with ease and grace. 

After dinner, in about five minutes, we saw the 
whole town and paid a visit to the church-^ like 
all in the country, a very pretty building exter- 
nally, but containing hideous, repulsive images, 
and adorned with tinsel and gewgaws, so as to be 
scarcely recognized as anything but a pagan 
church. There was evidence of devotion, how- 
ever, in the beautiful offerings of fresh flowers 
before many of the images. 

Then our friend left us, for we were now well 
able to care for ourselves, and there was no need 
for him to delay longer his journey. To him we 
shall always feel the deepest gratitude, for he had 
rendered us most valuable service in a most grace- 
ful and modest manner, completely disarming us 
of all prejudices, and changing entirely our concep- 
tions of the Spanish character. His whole bearing 
throughout was most admirable. No American, 
however polished a society gentleman he might 
be, could have acted in the same capacity under 
similar circumstances without making himself a 
"bore." 



SPANISH TACT, 63 

The quickness of perception and amount of 
tact that the Spanish possess is truly wonderful, 
and Emilio Carranza furnishes a good illustration. 
He understood perfectly the situation, exactly 
how the country would impress us, and what diffi- 
culties it would present ; and, without making 
himself in the least obtrusive or disagreeable, re- 
moved all our care and responsibility, and took 
entire charge of us without seeming to at all. He 
invariably appeared (sometimes as if from the 
clouds) at the very moment when we needed him 
most, did exactly the right thing, and then, without 
allowing us to thank him, as gracefully withdrew, 
being careful never to intrude, and only desirous 
of showing, in the best possible way, the greatest 
politeness and kindness to strangers in a strange 
land. 

All that was left us with which to beguile the 
long afternoon was to watch the Indians, a great 
crowd of whom was gathered about the cabildo. 
Their costumes, like that of all the Indians 
throughout the country, was very picturesque. 
The women's dress consists of a full plaid skirt 
and a loose, sleeveless waist, embroidered, often 
elaborately, with the colQrs of the tribe. Thg 



64 DRESS OF THE NATIVES, 

hair, which is long, black, and often beautiful, is 
sometimes left flowing, but usually wound with a 
red woollen roll. They are always barefooted, 
and wear no jewelry except a necklace of beads 
and money — their necklace being their bank. 
The dress of the men consists of a loose jacket 
and trousers of a stout cloth, always white, and, 
what is remarkable, always clean. We never saw 
a dirty Indian, and seldom a ragged one. When 
carrying burdens they wear sandals of leather, and 
wide hats, and remove their jackets, and roll up 
their trousers, so as to be as nearly naked as pos- 
sible. They never wear war-paint or feathers, 
and the only indication of savageness is the long, 
cruel-looking " machete," which they always carry, 
and which is as essential to them as a jack-knife 
to us, for the woods are so dense with vines and 
shrubs that they cannot penetrate into them a 
foot without cutting their way with these long 
knives. 

About the cabildo was a crowd of bright boys, 
evidently curious to see us, but a little afraid. 
They would approach in a body as near as they 
dared, and then with a laugh and shout disappear 
around the corner of the building. We offered 



*'ALL RIGHT.'* 6$ 

them all the encouragement possible, and each 
time they ventured nearer until their curiosity- 
was finally satisfied. This merely illustrates with 
what interest we were everywhere regarded. 
Always on arriving at a place the driver was 
questioned long and earnestly in regard to us, and 
his air of pride and ownership in us was very 
amusing. 

The people were anxious to converse, always 
showing disappointment when they found one of 
us could not speak Spanish. They recognized us 
immediately as Americans, and expressed the 
greatest admiration for the United States, and 
a desire to speak English. Our driver learned to 
say "all right" with perfect understanding of its 
meaning, and was so proud of it that he con- 
stantly displayed this knowledge before the Ind- 
ians, telling them he could speak English, with 
such an air as to make them believe he knew the 
whole English language. 

As soon as it was dark, which was directly after 
sunset, for there is no twilight in the tropics, we 
repaired to the jail to pass the night ; but sleep 
was long in coming, for a great crowd of Indians 
just outside the door were talking fast and loud in 



^^ A QUEER HUBBUB. 

their queer guttural language. Although we had 
now been living with the Indians three days, and 
the fear I first felt (for I had fear at first) had 
almost entirely vanished by seeing every day their 
kindly faces, still I must confess to a great deal 
of nervousness this night there in that lonely hut 
completely surrounded by Indians. The coman- 
dante was in his house, some distance off, our 
driver asleep on the ground somewhere, we knew 
not where, and Emilio Carranza, hitherto our 
protector, miles away. It was really startling to 
hear these Indians, usually so silent, talking so 
loudly and earnestly, and I became so frightened 
that I half believed they were plotting against our 
lives, and lay there trembling, expecting every 
moment to see the door burst open and the Ind- 
ians rush in upon us. I spoke to my father, but I 
did not tell him I was afraid. Oh no ! I would 
not confess my weakness ! But he confessed to a 
nervousness of quite a different sort, and declared 
he was all out of patience with such a noise. 
Just then there came a fresh arrival, and a new 
voice struck up in a sharp falsetto key which ban- 
ished all hope of sleep, and so exhausted my 
father's patience that he called out the forcible 



INDIAN MUSIC, 6y 

English " Shut up ! " in stentorian tones. Imme- 
diately all was silence, every voice was hushed, 
and the talkers vanished as if into thin air, with- 
out the sound even of a footstep. I rose from my 
cot and looked out of the window. The moon 
was shining brightly ; not an Indian was in sight ; 
the quietness and peacefulness of the night 
soothed my spirit, and I felt how foolish my fears 
had been. 

But even now we could not sleep, for then there 
came stealing upon the stillness the sounds of the 
marimba, sweet and monotonous, but not soporific, 
the same strain repeated over and over. It was a 
feast day, and the Indians were having a dance 
somewhere in the village, and played this one 
tune without an instant's cessation for hours and 
hours. Finally, about midnight, the sounds died 
away, and we slept. 



CHAPTER V. 

A WEEK IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE. 

Our loss of half a day at Tamaju on account of 
the fatigue of the mules was very discouraging, 
for we had planned to reach in four days the vil- 
lage of Coban, one of the largest interior towns, 
where there was a hotel, and, we hoped, some op- 
portunity for rest and comfort. It was also the 
end of the carriage road, and there we should 
have to change our mode of travelling, hiring 
mules for riding, and Indians, or " mozos," as they 
are always called, to carry our baggage. Our 
driver gave us little encouragement as to the pos- 
sibility of reaching Coban in one day more, but 
we were exceedingly anxious, and urged more 
strongly than ever the importance of an early 
start. Quite to our own surprise he actually 
called us at three o'clock in the morning, having, 
through a growing affection or a better under- 
standing of our ways, made a great effort to carry 

68 



A THRIFTY TOWN. 69 

out our request. He had his mules all harnessed, 
and coffee ready, so we set out on our journey at 
once.' The moon was full and high in the heav- 
ens, and by its light, which was almost as bright 
as that of day, we climbed the great mountain 
until we reached its very top. At eight o'clock 
we stopped for breakfast at "Taltic," a small but 
flourishing Indian town all nicely laid out with 
garden plots, and having an air of thrift we had 
not seen before, for the Indians all over the town 
were at work building fences and making gardens. 
The town was at such an elevation that it seemed 
very cold. Every Indian wore a great blanket 
over his shoulders, and we were obliged to wrap 
ourselves up as warmly as possible. We took 
breakfast with a pleasant and attractive family, 
though the hut bore the sign " se vende aguardi- 
ente " (brandy is sold here), the brandy of the 
country, very strong, and disagreeable to any but 
natives. 

Near by was a very pretty church in which 
services were being held in honor of a feast day, 
"the feast of candles," and the church was full of 
Indians kneeling upon the floor and chanting a 
hymn in Spanish in response to the priest. They 



70 CASS I MIR' S TRIUMPH. 

sang with sweet voices, but the music was strange 
and monotonous. 

By nine o'clock we began our journey again ; 
the boy assuring us that if we could reach the 
next village by noon, we should arrive at Coban 
that night. My duties as interpreter then be- 
came exceedingly arduous, for my father seemed 
to think that our getting to Coban depended upon 
the number and frequency of my questions to the 
driver, and at intervals of every fifteen minutes 
would say, "Ask him how far it is now." How 
anxious we were all through the hours of that 
morning, and when we drove into "Santa Cruz" 
were almost afraid to look at our watches, but, to 
our joy as well as Cassimir's triumph, the hands 
pointed to precisely twelve o'clock. 

The towns were now growing larger and thrif- 
tier, and here there were several coffee planta- 
tions, and in the " plaza " a large group of Indian 
women removing the coffee berry from the pulp, 
there being no machinery in these small towns. 
They were sitting on the ground with baskets 
of the red berries before them, and in their 
embroidered dresses, with streaming black hair, 
iiiade a picturesque group. They work very 



A REFLEX OF HOME. 71 

fast, but are paid only six and one fourth cents 
a day. 

After the mules had rested we passed on, and 
in a few hours saw from the top of a hill a vil- 
lage which, with its white houses and church 
spires, looked exceedingly pretty. 

From the distance it resembled very much a 
little New England village, and I thought we were 
at last to see something like home. Completely 
exhausted as we were with more than a hundred 
miles of travelling over such a rough road, we 
hailed with delight our first real halting-place on 
the way to Guatemala. It was the home of Cas- 
simir and the mules, and they were as happy as 
we. Though almost too exhausted to speak, we 
stood up in the carriage and shouted, " Hurrah ! " 
The boy snapped his whip vigorously, crowed, 
screamed, and shouted in triumph to the mules, " a 
las cuatro, Coban " (at four o'clock, Cohan), and we 
dashed down the hill and into the village with re- 
joicing hearts. But, alas, our joy was turned into dis- 
appointment when we drove into Coban, and found 
it the usual Indian town ; larger, to be sure, and in 
many respects better, but nothing like what its dis- 
tant appearance had deluded us into believing. 



^2 HUNGRY TRAVELLERS. 

We went at once to the hotel, which was kept 
by a German lady, whose daughters, to our relief, 
spoke English. I had become so weary with 
questioning the driver that I declared to my 
father that whether English was spoken at the 
hotel or not, he would have to do the talking, for 
I could not speak another word. *' Hotel Ale- 
man," like all the houses in the place, was of 
whitewashed adobe, a long one-storied building 
(there was only one two-storied house in the 
village), containing many rooms, but with stone 
floors, and, like all adobe houses, dark, damp, and 
cheerless. But we stayed in the house very 
little, for there was always bright sunshine out of 
doors, and in front of the hotel a beautiful garden 
where roses and violets were in blossom the year 
round. 

The fare we found very good, and we did more 
than ample justice to every meal. The fact is, we 
were nearly starved, and must have acted almost 
as ravenous as the Marchioness at her first ban- 
quet with Dick Swiveller. The arrangement of 
meals in all these countries is very different from 
ours. They never have breakfast before ten or 
twelve o'clock; but have on rising a cup of 



CANDELARIA. 73 

coffee and piece of bread. The bread at this 
hotel was delicious ; not in loaves like ours, but in 
all sorts of fancy shapes, some kinds resembling 
cake more than bread. This and the nice fresh 
cheese they had, we enjoyed very much. Coffee 
was made after the manner already described, but 
was carefully prepared and very good. We had, 
too, the luxury of milk and sugar. One coffee 
shrub in the garden was sufficient for the supply 
of the hotel. 

We were much interested in the Indian girl, 
" Candelaria," who was the busiest body in the 
whole house. She waited on the table, took care 
of the rooms, brought water for the house in a jar 
on her head, went to the market, and in fact was 
doing something every moment and yet never 
seemed to be tired. Sometimes we heard her 
grinding coffee at nine o'clock in the evening, and 
she was always the first one up in the morning. 

Coban is called very pretty, although I never 
could see anything to admire in adobe architec- 
ture. Many of the houses are large ; every 
house, whether large or small, and all the fences 
are kept freshly whitewashed, and the whole place 
is as neat and clean as possible. It has a fine 



74 COBAJV. 

situation in a fertile valley at an elevation of over 
four thousand feet, so that the climate is very 
agreeable and healthful. Although quite warm in 
the middle of the day, it is always cool in the 
shade and at morning and evening. To us, 
coming as we did from the hot coast lands, it 
seemed very cold, and at first I shivered in my 
warmest wraps, only convincing myself that it 
must be warm by looking at the beautiful verdure 
all about. 

The environs of Coban are beautiful, and a 
walk in almost any direction reveals picturesque 
scenery. Flowers are so abundunt that the town 
seems to be planted in a garden, and almost 
embowered in roses. This whole region is a rich 
field for the botanist and the ornithologist. There 
are many varieties of birds, many of them rare 
and of brilliant plumage, and they can be obtained 
of the Indians at a moderate sum. The finest 
roses of our hothouses blossom here the year 
round, and in the woods are the rarest orchids, 
which are often bought of the Indians for five 
cents and sold in London for hundreds of dollars. 

The population of Coban is estimated at fifteen 
thousand, but these figures give rather an exag- 



EXILES FROM CIVILIZATION. 75 

gerated idea of its size, as the majority are In- 
dians, many of whom often Hve in a very small 
space. The English-speaking people were Ger- 
mans, and they received us with the greatest cor- 
diality and kindness, and did everything possible 
to make our stay pleasant. There were several 
finely educated and cultured young ladies, whose 
society I greatly enjoyed. Some of the Germans 
are owners of coffee plantations, others are mer- 
chants supplying the interior towns, and it is as- 
tonishing how many stores there are throughout 
the country, and what a vast amount of goods is 
imported, almost nothing being manufactured. 
Although so far removed from the civilized world, 
and obliged to live somewhat after the fashion of 
the country, still these Germans have all the com- 
forts and luxuries of life except that they are quite 
deprived of society save in their own small circle ; 
for, although they mingle somewhat with the better 
class of the natives, there is Httle affiliation be- 
tween them. 

No foreigners thoroughly enjoy living there. 
Every American and German we met in Central 
America was always looking forward to the time 
when he should return to his native land ; still not 



7^ WELCOME VISITORS. 

one out of a hundred ever does, and those who go 
almost invariably return, drawn by a strange fasci- 
nation which seems to hold them to this strange life. 

Our arrival was quite an event in this quiet 
town. The Germans were glad to see any one 
from a civilized country, and the natives regarded 
us with much curiosity. We had not been in the 
place two hours before they knew it and were anx- 
ious to see us. They would inquire *' What are 
they like .'* " and would make some excuse to come 
to the hotel that they might see us, the children 
even coming and gazing in at the windows. They 
seemed particularly impressed by my father's size, 
and whenever we appeared on the street we were 
gazed at with wonder and admiration, and often 
heard the expressions "que gordo ! " (''how fat") 
and " pesa mucho ! " (" he is very heavy "). Though 
they had not the slightest intention of being rude, 
and intended all their staring as the highest com- 
pliment, yet it was to us very unpleasant, and we 
found the position of " extrangeros " (foreigners) 
most trying and uncomfortable. 

Our chief diversion was to visit the " Plaza " 
every morning. It was a large open square on the 
top of a hill in the centre of the town, enclosed 



THE '' plaza:' 77 

by a church, cabildo and stores. In this square 
the Indian women sat on the ground in the hot 
sun, selling meat, fruit, and vegetables. It was a 
very curious scene, ever new and interesting, but 
impossible to describe, being unlike any other part 
of the world save the Orient. The prices were 
remarkable. For the smallest piece of money (a 
cuartilla), about three cents, we could get more 
oranges than we could carry ; pine-apples, two for 
five cents ; cocoanuts and bananas, three for five 
cents ; eggs, a cent apiece ; beef, twelve and a half 
cents a pound ; and cigars, five dollars per thou- 
sand. 

One afternoon we visited the cemetery, on a 
high hill, reached by over a hundred steps ; a hard 
climb, but repaying us with a fine view of the sur- 
rounding country. It was a strange looking place, 
many of the graves being marked only by a stick, 
others by a rude arch of mud, and a few by 
monuments of whitewashed adobe. There was a 
small chapel, with the usual tinsel ornaments and 
images. Just as we reached the top of the steps 
the bell in the chapel began to ring violently, and, 
looking down, we saw mounting the hill an Indian 
funeral procession, headed by three or four fiddlers, 



yS FUNERAL RITES. 

and consisting of a straggling crowd, mostly 
women, who, according to the custom of the coun- 
try, were hired to go as mourners and were making 
an evident effort to weep and wail. 

The coffin, borne on the shoulders of four men, 
was a rude affair, covered with black and white 
paper and decorated with a skull and cross-bones, 
the former looking exactly like the head made 
by children on a ''jack-lantern." The procession 
entered the church, where a priest stood before 
the altar, on which were many lighted candles, and 
all knelt ; but we could not see that there was any 
service, or hear anything save the music and the 
bell of the chapel, which was ringing loudly. 

After a few moments they proceeded to the 
grave and lowered the coffin, the women sobbing 
aloud and making an extra show of grief. This 
was the funeral of a wealthy Indian, for the poor 
mozo is merely wrapped in a *'petate," and just 
covered with a little dirt, sometimes a toe being 
left sticking out of the ground. 

We witnessed, too, another one of their curious 
custorhs, a religious ceremony. It was a proces- 
sion of Indians carrying an image of the Virgin 
Mary, simply a large doll dressed beautifully in 



EVENING WORSHIP. 79 

white, with many spangles, and sitting in a large 
chair, adorned with festoons of flowers. The 
image was borne by women and preceded by 
weird 'music, every one in the street kneeling be- 
fore it, and remaining in that posture until it had 
passed. 

Frequently, in passing a house in the evening, 
we would hear a monotonous chant, and, on look- 
ing in, for the doors were open, could see a large 
crowd kneeling and worshipping some image. 
We were told that there was very little depth to 
their religion ; that it consisted mostly of empty 
show, ringing of bells, and occasional displays of 
fireworks. The church was large and quite hand- 
some, but there seldom seemed to be any services 
held there. Sunday was the great market-day 
and holiday. In the afternoon there was quite a 
display of troops, and the band played in one of 
the principal squares. 

We learned much of Spanish customs, and of 
the state of society, which is most deplorable ; but 
as this place is simply a smaller edition of the 
capital, we prefer to speak of this subject later on. 

Notwithstanding all that the Germans did to 
make our stay pleasant, as soon as we got rested 



So ANXIOUS FOREBODINGS. 

we were anxious to press on ; but found to our 
displeasure that it would take us some time to 
make arrangements for the new mode of travelling 
which we must adopt. 

Up to this time I had cherished a faint hope 
that there would be some way to escape travel- 
ling on mule-back, of which I had the greatest 
dread. So far it had been possible, but between 
us and Guatemala there were yet nearly one hun- 
dred and fifty miles, which could be traversed 
only on mule-back because there was only a 
narrow mountain-path, merely the old trail of the 
Indians, very little improved from time imme- 
morial. 

Then came my greatest trial in the whole jour- 
ney. Although I had sufficient courage to under- 
take anything else, I was very timid about riding 
horse-back, and this natural timidity had been 
increased by being thrown from a horse just 
before leaving home. While in Coban a party of 
ladies and gentlemen was made up especially for 
me to go and visit one of the finest estates, where 
there was a remarkable collection of rare orchids, 
but I had to beat an ignominious retreat, even 
after I was mounted on the horse's back, and let 



IN DESPAIR. 8 1 

the rest of the party go without me. I began to 
think I should never get to Guatemala City. ] 
inquired most earnestly if there was no othei 
way;. and learned that there was none save that 
of being carried on an Indian's back, a method 
sometimes employed for children and persons in 
feeble health. I thought even this mode of loco- 
motion preferable to mule-back, and went so far 
as to try the experiment of taking a short ride 
in a chair strapped upon an Indian's back. But, 
although this fellow was a stalwart specimen, he 
pronounced me " too heavy " ; and as the law 
limited an Indian's cargo to one hundred and fif- 
teen pounds, my case was hopeless. Evidently 
my father and I were not designed by nature for 
travelling in this country. Finally, one young 
lady, who was also timid about riding, suggested 
that I might have an Indian lead my horse as 
she had done, telling me it would insure a great 
feeling of safety. This plan I decided to adopt, 
and tried to bring my courage up to the point 
of undertaking the long, hard journey. 

We were now impatient to reach the capital, of 
which we heard high praises on every side, but 
found "manana" and **no hay" great and almost 



82 OBSTACLES. 

insurmountable obstacles. It was more trouble to 
get out of that little town than it had been to pre- 
pare for our whole trip ; for, although we were in a 
country where travelling is done almost entirely 
on mule-back, it was next to impossible to obtain 
either suitable saddles or animals ; our case being 
particularly serious, as the mules are all small and 
not accustomed to carry over one hundred and 
fifty pounds. Finally our old friend *' Dolly," 
called the stoutest and best mule in the country, 
was decided upon to carry the ''heavy-weight," 
a pony was obtained for me, and saddles were 
found which some repairing made safe though not 
comfortable. Our baggage must be carried by 
Indians, but they were so plenty we supposed we 
could get them at a minute's notice ; what was 
our surprise when we found we had quite a pro- 
cess to go through with ! We had to go to the 
comandante and make all the arrangements 
through him, giving the mozos three days' 
notice to cook provisions (that is, tortillas) for 
the whole journey to and from Guatemala. We 
paid the comandante two dollars and fifty cents 
for each mozo, and for that paltry sum each was 
to carry a weight of seventy-five or one hun- 



INJUSTICE TO THE INDIANS. 83 

dred pounds to Guatemala, and then return home, 
making in all a journey of nine or ten days. 
Furthermore, the comandante charged us not to 
give them generous fees, as it would establish a 
bad precedent. It seemed very unjust to the 
poor Indians to have some one else make all their 
bargains for them, and forbid even a little kindly 
charity, but the people regard them as little better 
than animals, and fit only for cargo-carrying, 
almost always addressing them as '' chucho," a 
word used to call a dog. By dint of much urging 
we managed to get one mozo to go with us to 
lead my horse and carry our handbags, starting 
when we got ready, for we decided not to wait for 
the baggage-carriers. The comandante, on being 
asked if the latter would start when they agreed, 
said he would send an officer to arrest them the 
day before and put them in jail, so there could be 
no doubt about it. 



CHAPTER VI. 

ON MULE-BACK. 

We left Coban a week from the day we entered 
it ; much to the surprise of all the people, who 
thought we had been wonderfully expeditious. We 
had hired to go with us, besides the mozo, a most 
excellent guide, whom we had taken great pains 
to secure. He was not an ordinary muleteer, but 
a young man from one of the coffee " finchas," 
and proved to be a most efficient and devoted ser- 
vant. It was impossible to find a guide who could 
speak English, but he spoke what was far more 
useful in this country — the language of the In- 
dians — and was so bright and quick to understand 
and anticipate our wants, that a few words were 
quite sufficient. He had one of the pleasantest 
faces I ever saw, and my father and I were both 
reassured the moment we saw him, for to us a good 
guide was of the greatest importance, as we had 
to depend upon him entirely, and trust wholly to 
his judgment. We found Melesio Guerra the 

84 



THE DREADED ORDEAL. 85 

embodiment of amiability, patience, and obedience, 
and, but for his kindness and sympathy, I beheve 
I never could have reached Guatemala City. 

For twenty or twenty-five miles the road was 
wide enough for a carriage, being, as far as Santa 
Cruz, the road we had already traversed, and 
we availed ourselves of the carriage for this dis- 
tance. But at six o'clock in the evening we 
reached the spot where we must mount and 
begin the mode of travelling so dreaded by me. 
The owner of the carriage — an American — had 
come with us, and remained to see our mule 
train safely started. The guide, on a Httle black 
mule, went ahead ; the Indian came next, leading 
my horse, and my father last, on " Dolly." The 
path wound up a steep hill and was very rough. 
We went most slowly, and by the time we began 
to descend were enveloped in black darkness, and 
the way seemed truly frightful. We could not see 
an inch before us ; the animals, although very 
sure-footed, would stumble every few moments 
over a loose stone, or step so suddenly into a hole 
or deep cut as to almost throw us off their backs. 
I clung to the saddle until my hands were blis- 
tered, and then dismounted and walked. 



86 A YOUNG SMOKER. 

At about eight o'clock we reached Santa Rosa, 
the little Indian village where we were to spend 
the night. The only incident here worth men- 
tioning was furnished by a bright boy of seven or 
eight years, who occupied the third cot in the 
room with us, the rest of the space being entirely 
taken by a heap of corn. He seemed exceedingly 
restless, tossing about on his couch for some time, 
until he finally got up, and, to our surprise, pro- 
ceeded to light a cigarette. With this in his 
mouth he retired to his cot, and, after smoking 
several cigarettes, finally got quiet and fell asleep. 
This we mention merely as illustrating the univer- 
sality of smoking in this country, among men, 
women, and children, the boys often beginning 
when three or four years old ; in fact, we saw 
one pretty little fellow of two years already ad- 
dicted to the habit, in spite of whippings from his 
parents, who happened to be unusually strict in 
this matter. 

The next morning we started about six o'clock, 
and in a few hours I lost my fear sufficiently to ride 
without having the horse led, much to the relief of 
the Indian, who evidently regarded this part of his 
duties as very foolish, We had not ridden far 



SAL AM A, 87 

before we envied our mozo his mode of loco- 
motion, and would gladly have changed places 
with him if we could. It is impossible by any 
words to do justice to the nature of a mule or 
the aches and pains of mule-back, such as we 
endured. A person may enjoy a gentle canter 
of an hour or two over a smooth road ; but put 
that same experienced rider down in Central Amer- 
ica, and let him ride twenty or twenty-five miles 
a day for five days, on a stubborn mule, up and 
down mountains, on a rocky road, and he will know 
how to appreciate a Pullman car, and never after 
complain of any civilized mode of travelling. 
But we were not even experienced riders ; in fact, 
were not at all accustomed to it, and the motion of 
the mule was tiring beyond description. 

At nine o'clock we reached the top of a mountain, 
from which we had a magnificent view ; so magni- 
ficent that we paused a while to look. Before us 
lay a green valley all shut in by majestic moun- 
tains towering above the clouds, and bearing on 
their slopes little white villages which looked very 
fair in the distance. The largest of these our 
guide pointed out as Salama, the place where 
we should get breakfast ; and, although we had 



88 AN ENCHANTING SCENE. 

learned by former experience that the saying "Dis- 
tance lends enchantment " was never truer than 
of these Indian villages, yet this one looked so 
beautiful, nestling there on the mountain-side, and 
seemed so near, almost within a stone's throw, that 
we were greatly cheered by the sight, and started 
down the mountain with fresh courage. But the 
way proved long and weary, and it seemed as if 
we should never reach Salama, for after we de- 
scended the mountain we had to cross a long, 
dusty plain, and it was twelve o'clock before we 
reached the village — three hours from the time 
we saw it from the top of the mountain. It proved 
to be quite a large, pretty place, the best we saw 
in all our journey, and possessed a hotel, a long, 
neat looking building, with a large courtyard. 
The lady of the house was very pleasant and 
received us most politely, inviting us at once to 
come in and rest in a room furnished with neat 
cot beds and a sumptuous hammock. I immedi- 
ately availed myself of this invitation. But alas for 
corpulency ! The old story of Gulliver among the 
Liliputians was repeated ; for the man, who was 
regarded as a wonder on account of his size, who 
even on the largest mule in the country looked 



A ''GREAT MAN'S'' TRIALS. 89 

as ludicrous as a boy riding a walking-stick, now, 
though so tired and lame he could hardly step, 
found, to his dismay, that the door was so small he 
could' not pass through. The lady was very sym- 
pathetic, and urged him to try it " sideways," but it 
was of no use ; and he had to sit on a hard bench 
outside the door, and have his breakfast served on 
the piazza, because he was too big to get into the 
house. 

Our guide here, more thoughtful of the future 
than most people in this country, advised us to 
purchase some bread to eat with our morning 
cup of coffee, as this was the last place on the 
road where we could get it before we reached 
Guatemala. The bread was the same as that of 
Coban, already described — the one article of 
food in which the people excel us. It is made 
into all sorts of fancy shapes, and, although eaten 
without butter, is really delicious with a cup of 
coffee. We found it in all the larger towns and 
cities both of Central America and Mexico, and it 
was the one article of food we most enjoyed and 
were most sorry to forego. 

From Salama we sent a telegram to Guate- 
mala for a carriage to meet us Saturday morning 



go THE GOITRE. 

(it was then Wednesday) at San Antonio, a few 
hours' ride from the city, and as far as a carriage 
could come, for we had no ambition to ride mule- 
back any farther than was absolutely necessary. 

At two o'clock in the afternoon, though lame, 
sore, and weary, we mounted again, reaching our 
stopping-place about 5:30. It was just at the base 
of a mountain, to climb which must be our next 
task, and we had been told by everybody it was 
the highest mountain in all the way. Besides the 
thought of this to trouble us, there were many 
fleas to torment us ; and ever after this until we 
once more got into the United States, we suffered 
from these troublesome insects. The woman of 
the house where we stopped had the goitre, and 
we saw several men and women, in this part of the 
country, afflicted with this disease. It is a swell- 
ing of the front and sides of the neck, sometimes 
reaching a great size so as even to hang down 
upon the chest. When large, its weight presses 
upon the windpipe and causes difficulty of breath- 
ing, alteration of the voice, and a bad cough, finally 
ending in consumption, apoplexy, or suffocation. 
We inquired the cause of this strange disease, and 
always received the answer, " the water," which 



A HARD CLIMB. 9 1 

hardly seemed possible to us, for the water drank 
here is that of mountain streams, which seem 
clear and sparkling and pure. The disease is 
found only in mountainous countries, being com- 
mon in Switzerland, in dark, deep valleys, where 
the air is cold and moist and the water contains 
lime or other alkaline substances. 

Next morning we climbed the high mountain, 
which was at least three miles up and six down ; 
the ascent took over an hour and the descent 
more than two. The coming down was very tire- 
some, for we had to keep ourselves braced every 
moment, not daring to change in the least our 
position lest we be thrown over the mules' heads ; 
and the road was narrow and steep, with some 
deep cuts which were really frightful. But we 
reached the bottom safely about ten o'clock, and 
found a mud hut, where the housekeeper and head 
of the family was a pretty girl of about fifteen 
years. As usual, we flung ourselves into ham- 
mocks to wait for breakfast, but the delay was 
longer than usual, for the girl had no one to help 
her; and to get breakfast in this country is a long 
task. Everything is cooked over a little charcoal 
fire ; and if they have a dozen eggs to fry or 



92 MOUNTAIN AFTER MOUNTAIN. 

twenty tortillas to bake, only one is cooked at a 
time. 

All the afternoon we were travelling on the 
plains ; it was very hot, and the road was dusty and 
uninteresting, part of the way a narrow path over 
a ravine, whose depth, however, was slight com- 
pared with what we saw afterwards. 

All the way we found the same kind of villages 
and the same lack of accommodations as in our 
journey from Panzos to Cohan, though our excel- 
lent guide relieved us from all care and trouble, 
and made us as comfortable as possible, furnishing 
us with one luxury which we fully appreciated, a 
calabash of water every morning, in which to 
bathe our faces ; so we did not have to hunt around 
as before for a running stream, and go with dirty 
faces if we could not find one. The road was 
even more mountainous than before, especially 
after the first day. In fact, this range is remark- 
able for its lack of valleys ; and, with the excep- 
tion of one day, when we rode for a while on a 
hot, dusty plain, we were climbing mountains all 
the time, having no sooner descended one than we 
had to ascend another. In our ascent we were 
often among the clouds hovering about the moun- 



THE LAND OF DO-NOTHING. 93 

tain, and for a while would be enveloped in fog 
and mist, or even rain, until we mounted above 
them into clear sunlight again. Being in higher 
regions, we saw less of luxuriant tropical verdure 
but more sugar and banana plantations, *' hacien- 
das " (cattle ranches), and fields of corn and 
cactus. There were very few signs of agriculture 
or labor of any kind, fields often rich and fertile 
being entirely uncultivated. No matter what 
time of the day we stopped at a house to rest, the 
men were almost invariably at home doing noth- 
ing, save now and then we found one weaving in a 
simple hand-loom the coarse cloth of which the 
Indian's dress is made. The women seemed more 
industrious than the men, for they were house- 
keepers ; and the noise of the Indian housewife 
patting her tortillas in preparation for breakfast 
was the only sound that ever broke the silence of 
our quiet morning rides. For what need have 
men to work in a land of perpetual summer, 
where fruits grow wild, and a small piece of 
ground will produce frijoles and corn, their sole 
living ; where branches and stout vines from the 
woods furnish the framework of their houses, 
mud the covering, and palm leaves the thatching 



94 AN INDIFFERENT OFFICIAL. 

for the roof ? They come up idle and careless in 
the sunshine, marry, grow old, and die, never 
having advanced a step beyond their fathers, nor, 
to all appearance, had a longing for better things. 
Yet there was never a more docile, kind-hearted, 
happy people in the world, and who shall say they 
are not much better off than we, with our artificial 
wants, and strivings after the impossible? 

The third night we spent at Las Canoas, a 
pretty, picturesque spot by a river, but the co- 
mandante was the first and only one in all the 
journey not to show us the greatest politeness. 
He seemed entirely absorbed in his own imagined 
greatness, and took no notice of us. If we had 
reported him to President Barrios, he would have 
lost his place and perhaps his head, for the Presi- 
dent especially instructed all his officials through- 
out the country to show the utmost courtesy and 
kindness to strangers. We were already quite 
familiar with Barrios' face, for his picture hung in 
every cabildo, and we often heard praises of his 
government. 

All about the cabildo here was a great crowd of 
Indians, as many as forty or fifty, and they made 
a very picturesque sight partaking of their evening 



A MOTLEY THRONG. 95 

meal. The women built the little fire of sticks 
and warmed up the tortillas, while each one 
placed a small calabash of water in the fire to be 
heated, for, as we learned, they always drink their 
water hot. This seemed strange and we asked 
our guide the reason. He said, "It is good for 
the stomach," which made us wonder if the recent 
hot water remedy had its origin among the 
Indians. 

The fourth day, at half-past six, we mounted 
again, passing just out of the village a fine bridge, 
which surprised us very much, as it was the only 
one of any size in the whole journey, though 
we saw many places where bridges were greatly 
needed, both over streams and gulleys. 

We were now constantly meeting more trav- 
ellers than before, and their number increased as 
we neared the capital. There were companies of 
soldiers, both men and women on mule-back, 
and large bands of mozos, including boys, carrying 
burdens almost as large as themselves, and 
it was an ever new and interesting study to look 
into their faces, and observe their queer gait, 
by which they make almost as good time as 
a mule. In fact, the mozo who went with us 



9^ ''AGUA, AGUAr 

made every day the same stations we did, not 
being behind us more than an hour. It is surpris- 
ing how perfectly erect these Indians are, though 
they have to go half bent under their cargo ; the 
moment their burden is dropped they stand as 
straight as an arrow, and we never once saw an 
Indian bowed over. We got accustomed to their 
dark color, and grew even to like it after a while. 
Very often we came upon a large group of them 
under a wide-spreading tree by a running brook, 
resting and preparing a meal, and there was never 
a more interesting, picturesque wayside scene than 
they presented. 

The fourth day it was very hot and dusty ; we 
were lame and weary, and my father suffered 
much from thirst. His continual cry all day was 
"agua, agua," and he halted for water at every 
hut, running stream, and Indian band. We found 
only very small villages in the way, and no signs 
of labor or cultivation. The first hut we came to 
was in the midst of a large banana plantation, 
with no other house in sight. Seeing the guide 
about to dismount I asked, " How far is it to San 
Bernato.'^" (the place where we were to breakfast). 
He answered, " This is San Bernato " ; and, sure 



UNIQUE " villages:' 97 

enough, the one house was dignified with the rank 
and title of a village. The population, however, 
was not altogether insignificant, for there was a 
very 'large family of dirty children, and it was the 
only really untidy house in which we ever ate. 

About noon, being warm and tired, we stopped 
again, at one of a group of three or four houses, 
also constituting a village, with a long name, 
''Talpichi Grande." We were received most cor- 
dially by the people, who showed us the greatest 
attention. There was little they could do, for they 
had little to do with ; but they could not have 
treated us better if we had been kings. 

In this house they manufactured " chicha," the 
favorite drink of the Indians, tasting like sweet 
cider, but said to be quite intoxicating. In fact, 
we had an illustration of its effect at this very 
house, where an Indian was talking very volubly 
in Spanish, a language he would have probably 
disdained in his sober moments ; for such is the 
hatred for the Spaniards among the Indians, that, 
although they as a rule understand the language, 
they will not speak it, save in the large cities, and 
where it is absolutely necessary. 

As usual, on entering these houses our first 



9^ A STRANGE BEDFELLOW, 

thought was to rest ; and I had a new experience 
here, even for this country. The single cot was 
already partly occupied by a sitting hen, but she 
seemed not at all disturbed by my approach, and 
I was so tired and had grown so accustomed to 
the prevailing style of living that nothing surprised 
me, and I actually shared the pillow some time with 
my feathered friend before the ludicrousness of 
the situation occurred to me, and I began to wonder 
what our Boston friends would say if they knew 
the style in which we were travelling. 

After we got rested enough to move, we 
mounted again, though the people urged us not to 
go on in the heat, and offered us every inducement 
to remain ; but we never could stay long in their 
wretched huts, and preferred moving on to resting 
there. Just before we went our mozo arrived ; 
and seeing the " chicha," he asked most eagerly 
for a "cuartilla." We left him drinking out of a 
large bowl, and when we saw him again, at night, 
its effects were evident in his attempts to converse 
in Spanish, though he had never before ventured 
to address us. 

We very soon left the plains, and resumed our 
journey on a narrow mountain path, the precipice 



A BARREN PLACE. 99 

ever growing deeper and deeper as we wound 
around the mountain, and gradually ascended. 
At three o'clock we reached the very top, where 
there was a little village of three or four houses, 
and where we had planned to pass the night, but it 
was such a barren, lonely place, without a cabildo, 
or even "zacate" for the mules, that we felt as if 
we could not stay, and must try to reach another 
station before night. How anxiously I questioned 
the guide, but he said there was not even a hut 
between there and San Antonio, which was so 
far it could not be reached until very late, and 
that the road was too dangerous for travelling in 
the dark. So we reluctantly dismounted, and 
passed as best we could the long, weary afternoon, 
sitting on a hard bench, Hstening to the soughing 
of the wind in the pine trees, watching a drove of 
lean, hungry pigs trying to. steal corn from our 
mules; or, as usual when we made a long stop, 
giving the guide a lesson in English, for he was 
very anxious to learn, and I was glad to help him, 
on account of his devotion and faithfulness. The 
pronunciation troubled him but little, and he 
learned very quickly. The Spanish seem to 
have a wonderful ability for acquiring our Ian- 



lOO A CLEVER RUSE. 

guage, and, as a nation, speak it remarkably 
well. A Frenchman or German, no matter how 
well he knows English, will almost invariably be- 
tray his nationality by his accent ; but a Spaniard 
speaks it as if it were his native tongue. Our 
first Spanish friend, Emilio Carranza, knew very 
little English, but the few sentences he used were 
spoken as perfectly as if he had been an Ameri- 
can. 

We got our dinner at one of the houses, and 
were happy in the addition of a bowl of honey, 
which we bought for a " medio " (six and one 
fourth cents), but we were greatly troubled to get 
a drink of water, as the soil was clayey, and the 
water turbid and disagreeable. About three 
miles before we reached this place, we stopped 
by the road and drank at a spring of clearest 
water, and, as there were plenty of Indians about, 
whose highest wages were a real a day, with the 
guide's help we engaged one, giving him two 
reals to go to this spring for some water. He 
was away about an hour, just about the time nec- 
essary, received his pay, and departed before we 
tasted the water, which we were delighted to ob- 
tain. What was our surprise to find the same 



A SLEEPLESS NIGHT. lOI 

muddy, disagreeable, unhealthy water which was 
rio-ht at hand ! That Indian had deceived us well. 
He started off in the right direction, but had 
come back and stayed by the spring behind the 
house, and, when he thought sufficient time had 
elapsed, had dipped up the water, brought it to 
us, and received pay for two days' work. 

The place where we were to spend the night 
was an open shed made of a few boughs bound 
together with vines, with no door, with no cover- 
ing of mud or thatching for the roof, and with 
wide-open spaces where we looked out upon the 
sky. In fact, it was just the same as sleeping out 
of doors, and was so cold from the high elevation 
that all our wraps were not sufficient to keep us 
warm. We repaired to our hammocks at dark, 
the guide and mozo lying on the ground near 
by; but for us there was no sleep. The mules 
never for a moment ceased champing corn all 
night; the whole drove of pigs were squealing, 
and grunting, and running about the shed ; and 
all the dogs in the village, in numbers more than 
the inhabitants, were barking incessantly. What 
wonder that in that dreary spot, during the hours 
of that sleepless night, one of us, more timid 



102 ASTIR AGAIN. 

than the other, heard strange noises, and half be- 
lieved a band of Indians were coming to over- 
power us, as they might easily have done, and 
reaped a rich harvest, for we were all unarmed 
and unprotected, and our bags contained much 
money. One thing we know : had we been in 
Mexico under such circumstances, we should 
never have seen daylight again. Is it any won- 
der, then, that we have an affection for the people 
of Guatemala } 

Finally we concluded it was no use to try longer 
to sleep, and, though it was not quite three o'clock, 
decided to get up. We called the guide, who, at 
the word " senor," was on his feet to do our bid- 
ding, as amiable and ready as if it were broad day- 
lio:ht, and we had not disturbed him out of a 
sound sleep. He immediately began to rouse the 
mozo, which was not so easy a task ; for to him the 
ground was a soft couch, and he was sleeping 
soundly. He grunted and groaned, and was fully 
fifteen minutes getting on his feet and kindling the 
pitch-pine knots for a light in the darkness. Me- 
lesio also aroused the woman of the house for 
our coffee, and saddled the mules. We took our 
coffee and tortillas in the room where the man and 



LOOKING FOR DAWN IO3 

boy of the family were still sleeping. We gave 
the woman for her trouble a generous fee, with 
which she was highly pleased, and proceeded to 
put it in the bed under her sleeping husband's 
head. We laughingly told her not to put it there 
as he might get it, and it was money she had 
earned herself. She appreciated the joke, though 
it was told mostly by gestures, but seemed to have 
true ideas of the matrimonial relation, and was 
nothing loath to trust her all with him. 

This had taken but little time and we were soon 
ready to mount ; but knowing we were on the top of 
a mountain, we dared not venture in the blackness 
of night, and even our fearless guide, so accus- 
tomed to the road, did not wish to start, and said 
the way was steeper and narrower than we had 
yet seen. How anxiously we looked for dawn, but 
no light came ; the sky was bright with stars, and 
the glorious constellation of the Southern Cross, 
our only reward for a sleepless night, was still 
above the horizon. Each time our fire of pitch- 
pine knots went out it seemed darker than before, 
and we could only wait impatiently for day. At 
last, though but little past four, we ventured, 
hoping the dawn would soon come to us on the 



I04 AWFUL GRANDEUR. 

way. We went very slowly, in the dim light 
hardly able to see each other. The sunrise was 
entirely shut out by the great mountains surround- 
ing us, but gradually the light of day came and 
revealed to us the awfulness of our situation. We 
were on a narrow shelf of rock overhanging a 
terrible precipice. Words utterly fail to portray 
the grandeur and awfulness of this great mountain 
gorge through which we were riding. The path, 
on the very side of a high mountain, was so nar- 
row that two mules could barely pass, and the 
overhanging branches of the trees often brushed 
against us with such force as almost to throw us 
from our mules. On one side was a perfectly 
straight wall of rock, on the other a sheer declivity 
of hundreds of feet as straight as a plummet line. 
At the foot of the precipice a mountain stream 
roared over the rocks, its deafening noise adding 
to the terrors of the place, and from it arose 
another chain of mountains, seeming to hem us in 
completely, with no hope of escape. There were 
many bad places in the path, some so frightful 
that we dismounted and walked ; great gulleys 
washed out by the water, and deep cuts covered 
with loose stones, where it seemed as if the mule's 



^'OUR HEADS FAIRLY WHIRLED:' IO5 

feet would surely slip and precipitate us to a sud- 
den death. What was more trying still, the mules 
would go on the very edge overhanging the preci- 
pice, 'and no amount of reining could prevent it. 
In fact if we reined them in toward the wall they 
would stop altogether ; and as it was no place to 
have a tussle, we held our breath and let them have 
their own way. One false step or the least crumb- 
ling of the earth and we should have been hurled 
to the awful depth below, as we knew had hap- 
pened to more than one luckless traveller in this 
place. Melesio went ahead very calmly, so well 
known and familiar a place having no terrors for 
him. In one spot where we bent sharply around 
the mountain, and the path was scarcely wide 
enough for the mule's feet, he turned around and 
told us to look down. Our heads fairly whirled at 
a mere glance. The frightful depth was enough 
to make the strongest nerves quail and the stout- 
est heart faint. Had we been suddenly trans- 
planted to this spot, we should certainly have been 
paralyzed with terror ; but as it was we rode as if 
under a spell, not realizing until afterwards either 
the dangers or the magnificence of the scene. 
Every time we bent around the mountain we 



I06 «^(9 MAS MULAS:' 

hoped to see the road descend, but still we went 
on and on hour after hour, and we were so weary 
after a sleepless night, so worn and exhausted with 
over a hundred miles in the saddle, that it seemed 
as if we should never get down from the danger- 
ous and toilsome height. Finally, about ten 
o'clock, the path gradually descended, then broad- 
ened out, a brisk trot of a few minutes brought 
us to San Antonio, and our mule-back was done. 
How thankful we were to see a carriage awaiting 
us, and how gladly we dismounted for the last time 
from those mules, none but Melesio Guerra can 
ever fully appreciate. He understood it all, and 
expressed it in brief but forcible Spanish, " No 
mas mulas." 

In the family with whom we breakfasted were 
several very beautiful young girls ; dark of course, 
but with perfect features, long, abundant hair, and 
lustrous black eyes. They ministered to all our 
wants with the grace and politeness so character- 
istic of the Spanish. 

By the time we were ready to start the mozo 
had arrived. My father gave him his broad 
straw hat and as generous a fee as he dared, 
advising him not to spend it for " chicha." This 



MELESIO LEAVES US. 10/ 

kindness was too much even for an Indian's sto- 
lidity, and his whole face beamed with gratitude as 
he said, "Dios se lo paga" ("God will pay you"). 
Money seemed poor return for Melesio's kindness, 
but was our only means of recompense. He had 
proved a most valuable and efficient guide and 
friend, and will have our lasting gratitude. He 
had become quite attached to us and looked sad 
at parting, giving us a hearty handshake as he 
said "good-bye" to my father and "adios nina" 
to me. To him and Emilio Carranza, these two 
simple but noble youths of Guatemala, I feel that 
I owe the greatest debt of gratitude of my whole 
life. May God in his mercy watch over and pro- 
tect them wherever they may be ! 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CAPITAL. 

It was only a short ride from San Antonio 
to Guatemala City. The carriage which met us, 
like everything in this country, was peculiar ; a 
covered vehicle, with seats arranged as in an om- 
nibus, drawn by four little mules not much bigger 
than rats, and about as ungovernable. The 
driver was a bright, black-eyed boy, and showed 
much skill in managing these untamed creatures. 
No carriage was ever so welcome as that one, and 
it was well for us that its owner did not know how 
we valued it, for my father was so tired of mule- 
back that he declared he would have had this 
carriage for that short time if it had taken the 
last cent he possessed. 

We arrived in Guatemala City as tired, dusty, 

and wretched specimens of humanity as ever 

entered its gates. Our first impressions were 

those of astonishment at seeing a city so large, 

io8 



"PEQUENA Paris:' 109 

and so superior to anything we had yet seen in 
the country, or even imagined from description. 

It is called, on account of its prosperity, the 
Par:is of Central America, or, as they say there, 
"Pequena Paris." It is situated in a broad, fertile 
valley, almost entirely surrounded by deep "barran- 
cas," or ravines, and has an elevation of five thou- 
sand two hundred and seventy feet above the sea. 

The climate is simply perfect, the finest in 
the world. It is neither too warm nor too cold ; 
seldom above eighty or below sixty degrees, with 
scarcely ten degrees difference between winter 
and summer, or, more properly speaking, between 
the rainy and dry seasons. It is, in fact, an ideal 
climate, just adapted for gardens of roses and vio- 
lets the year round. We were there in the 
dry season, and it was a luxury we appreciated 
never to have to wonder, when planning an expe- 
dition, if the weather would favor us. We were 
sure of bright sunshine every day. The rainy 
season lasts from May to October, and we were 
assured by those living there that it is not at all 
disagreeable. They have no long dreary rain- 
storms such as we have here, but at about the 
same time every afternoon a tremendous shower 



no A PLEASANT CITY. 

of rain, after which the sky is clear again. Much 
is said by every traveller to Mexico about the fine- 
ness of the climate ; but visiting both places in the 
same winter, we had an excellent chance to com- 
pare the two, and, though they are similar, we 
pronounce most decidedly in favor of Guatemala 
as being both more healthful and agreeable. 

The present capital was built in 1775, after the 
destruction (by an earthquake) of the former cap- 
ital, now called Antigua, and has a population of 
about forty-five thousand. The streets are wide, 
regular, and well paved. There are lines of horse- 
cars running to all parts, and just the night before 
we left the electric light was introduced for light- 
ing the city. There are many public buildings, 
parks, squares, and beautiful gardens. It seemed 
to us, on the whole, a very pleasant city, and we 
enjoyed a two weeks' stay there very much. 

The houses, though mostly of one story, on 
account of the earthquakes, are many of them 
large and comfortable. The architecture of the 
houses is that of southern Spain. They are all 
built in the form of a hollow square, and the in- 
terior court, containing trees and flowers, is often 
very beautiful. They are not at all prepossess- 



OUR HOST AND HOSTESS. 1 1 1 

ing from the exterior, presenting to the street a 
blank white wall with barred windows and a huge 
solid door Hke that of a prison ; but the moment 
the door is opened in response to the noise of 
the great knocker, the visitor is ushered into the 
interior court and into a scene of verdure and 
beauty. 

We stopped at the " Gran Hotel," which proved 
to be the best we found in the whole journey. 
The proprietors were Germans, and most excel- 
lent gentlemen. They spoke English, and we 
were rejoiced to hear it once more, not having 
heard a word for five days, except what we spoke 
ourselves. The Germans seem to be wonderful 
linguists ; nearly every one we met could speak, 
besides his own language, English, French, Span- 
ish, and Italian, all of which are quite essential 
to one doing business here, it is such a cosmopoli- 
tan city. In the dining-room we often heard all 
these different languages from the tables about 
us. The landlady was a very pleasant young Ger- 
man woman ; and as I was the only lady in the 
hotel, she took compassion on my situation, and 
did her best to make it pleasant. We had a most 
amusing time trying to converse, for we had no 



112 THE HOTELS "FATIO." 

language in common. She knew very little Eng- 
lish, I knew little German, and neither of us knew 
Spanish well. But she was very lively, and we 
made up in laughing what we lacked in conversa- 
tion, and enjoyed each other very much. 

The building itself, one of the few two-story 
houses of the city, is very beautiful. It was 
formerly a private residence of a very wealthy 
family, but its owner, we were told, was banished 
by Barrios as a real or supposed accomplice in 
some conspiracy, and now the daughters who 
once lived in this really palatial home are poor 
seamstresses. There were balconies all round 
the interior, overlooking the garden, which con- 
tained peach, orange, palm trees, beautiful flow- 
ers, and a fountain, also some little green paro- 
quets, and a lovely little blue-jay, so tame that 
he would allow his head to be stroked, and would 
even perch on your shoulder. 

The fare was good, and to us seemed excellent, 
for we were actually hungry. The order of meals 
is entirely different from ours, as well as the 
manner of serving. From 7 to 8, coffee and " pan 
dulce," in your room if you wish ; breakfast, 9:30 
to 11; dinner, 3:30 to 6. For breakfast there 



A BLACK PEDAGOGUE. 113 

were always cold meats, salad, eggs (to order), 
frijoles, fried plantains, pancakes, with honey, and 
coffee or chocolate. For dinner, soup, *' olla " 
(sort of boiled dinner), fish or game, poultry, 
roast beef, " dulce " (sweets), fruit, and coffee or 
chocolate. The chocolate is that of the country, 
and very nice, though always flavored with cin- 
namon. 

It is the custom to serve only one thing at a 
time, and this is rather harassing to an Ameri- 
can, especially the fact that it is impossible to get 
a cup of coffee until everything else has been 
removed. Over their cup of coffee the gentlemen 
sit and smoke at their leisure, alternating a sip of 
the favorite beverage with a puff of their cigar. . 

A colored boy, travelling as servant to an 
American gentleman, furnished us some amuse- 
ment in his struggles with Spanish, or rather 
without it, for he couldn't speak a word ; and as 
the servants of the hotel spoke nothing else, he 
had rather a lonesome time. One day he got to- 
gether the two fellows who took care of the rooms 
(for the "chambermaids" are all men in this 
country), and proceeded to give them a lesson in 
English. The part we heard was quite laughable. 



114 KING CARmVAL. 

He was making them repeat, over and over, " Me 
speak English," and "y-e-s — yes," though what 
good it would do them to spell this one word, 
when they could neither read nor spell their own 
language, was a mystery. 

For the first three days we did nothing but eat 
and sleep, being completely exhausted. The day 
after our arrival (Sunday) Carnival began, and there 
was little inducement for us to go out, as the whole 
city was given up to the perfect license which 
reigns during the three days. As far as we could 
observe. Carnival seemed here to amount to very 
little, except a perfect " bonanza " for rude boys, 
who paraded the streets, often in companies of 
twenty or thirty, throwing at everybody indiscrim- 
inately, flour, eggs, paint, and showers from 
squirt-guns, with which they were all armed. 
Many of the ladies shut themselves in their 
houses during the whole time, for this crowd is 
no respecter of persons. One night, as we were 
watching the fun from the roof of the hotel, we 
saw the Spanish minister and wife, just entering 
the theatre, rudely assaulted by a company of 
these boys. The more one appears vexed at this 
treatment, the worse it is for him. The best way 



THE AMERICAN MINISTER. II5 

is to submit calmly and quietly, if possible. The 
police give orders that strangers shall not be mo- 
lested, but still one can never feel perfectly sure, 
though we went out several times without being 
at all troubled. 

After Carnival we began to receive many callers, 
both Germans and Americans, particularly the 
latter, who were most glad to welcome some of 
their own countrymen. It seemed to us almost 
like getting home to meet some of our own people 
once more, especially a few from good New Eng- 
land, and I found most pleasant companions in 
several young ladies who very kindly went about 
with me sight-seeing, showing me all the places 
of interest, their knowledge of the city being a 
great advantage to me. The American minister, 
Mr. Hall, and his family received us most cordially, 
entertained us many times at their house, and did 
all in their power to make our stay pleasant. Mr. 
Hall is a very able man, and, what is very unusual 
and speaks highly in his praise, is much esteemed 
and beloved by all, both natives and foreigners. 
He has lived much in Spanish countries, and 
speaks Spanish as well as English, which is 
a very great advantage. Mrs. Hall is a Cuban 



Il6 THE MARKET. 

by birth, a very cultured and highly esteemed 
lady. 

There are in the city many squares and gardens, 
one in particular containing a fine collection of 
cactuses, some much taller than a man. The prin- 
cipal square is called the " Plaza Mayor," and in- 
cludes, besides the governmental buildings, the 
great cathedral, a fine imposing building, similar to 
the cathedral of Mexico, and, like it, built by the 
Spaniards. 

The market, which so interested us in every 
town, was here a large building, the centre being 
occupied by the Indian women, selling all sorts of 
provisions, and the exterior surrounded by little 
booths in which were sold all kinds of fabrics made 
by the Indians, as well as many cheap imported 
articles which the Indians buy. It was always a 
busy and interesting scene, though we saw some 
curious and anything but agreeable sights ; for 
instance, in the pauses of trade, women nursing 
their babes or searching industriously the heads of 
their children with a large, coarse, wooden comb. 
None of these traders ever have any paper with 
which to do up a bundle, but instead there are all 
through the market young girls with baskets on 



TIRELESS SERVITORS. H/ 

their heads, whose business it is to carry your pur- 
chases for you. There is no difficulty in having 
this, sort of express ; for there is a host of girls, 
and as soon as you enter the market they besiege 
you for a job. They will follow you about for half 
a day if you like, direct you where to go, advise 
you what to buy, and then, when you have finished, 
carry the whole to the hotel for five cents. One 
thing we learned about shopping, with everybody 
else who comes here, never to give more than half 
what is first charged. Bartering, however dis- 
agreeable it may seem, is absolutely essential 
here. Indeed if you do not do it, the Indians 
themselves laugh at you and call you "green 
Americans." 

There are many fine churches, built by the 
Spaniards ; in fact, with the exception of Mexico, 
they are the finest in Spanish America. The ex- 
terior is beautifully ornamented, and the interior 
contains magnificent altars, beautiful paintings 
and frescoes, and many images of Christ, Mary 
and innumerable saints. Some of these images 
are very beautiful, but the greater portion repre- 
sent the agonies of Christ, and are painful to 
contemplate. 



II 8 J^ISE OF THE LIBERALS. 

These churches were established in the six- 
teenth century, by the Jesuits, who became very 
corrupt and powerful, getting everything, property 
and government, under their control. In 1870, 
with the rise of the " Liberal Party," their power 
began to be broken, and when Barrios became 
President, in 1872, he declared the order extinct, 
broke up the monasteries, banishing and killing 
many priests and nuns, and confiscating all their 
property. This he recognized as absolutely essen- 
tial if Guatemala was to be anything of a power 
or have any place among other nations. Under 
the then existing state of affairs no commerce or 
enterprise was possible, no business men would 
engage in any pursuits there, and a country with 
rich resources and wonderful possibilities was 
lying stagnant, corrupt and powerless. 

But although the power of the order is broken 
the religion still exists and has its hold on the 
people. Even those who have renounced the faith, 
and glory in the name of " Infidel," are at heart 
Catholics still. 

There is one small Protestant mission in the 
city, the only one in the country. It has been 
started but a few years, but has been the most sue- 



A PROTESTANT MISSION. II9 

cessful mission ever planted in Spanish America. 
The minister is a very able man from central New 
York. There is also connected with the church a 
mission school, which has attracted the people on 
account of their anxiety to learn English. Both 
the church and the school received the hearty sup- 
port of Barrios ; not so much because he favored 
this form of religion as because he recognized in 
it a civilizing and progressive power, the power 
he admired above all others. To show his approval, 
he even went so far as to send his own children 
for a time to the school, and in every way helped 
and encouraged it. Since he favored it no one 
dared offer any opposition, for his word was law ; 
but the people called it in derision a *' Protestante- 
ria " (a shop for making Protestants). 

Guatemala has, comparatively speaking, good 
schools throughout the country, but especially at 
the capital, where many come to be educated. 
President Barrios made a law that every Indian 
should learn to read and write, though there were 
not many to support him in this good work. One 
German lady expressed her opposition in the 
strongest terms. She said, " It is almost impos- 
sible to get any servants now, for they are all in 



1 20 GUA TEMALAN SCHOOLS, 

the schools ! What does an Indian want to learn 
to read and write for ? It'll never do him any 
good." 

There are two large "■ colegios " in this city, a 
visit to which proved very interesting. They were 
formerly extensive convents, but Barrios con- 
verted them into schools. All the appointments 
are complete; there are maps, charts, diagrams, 
and apparatus requisite for a good thorough ad- 
vanced education. Of course they are not equal 
to ours, but are fine for the country. Both schools 
are provided with large courts for out of door 
recreation, an ample hall and gymnasium. At- 
tached to the boys' school, which is the largest 
and numbers about three hundred pupils, is a 
fine large museum, containing a valuable collec- 
tion ; a zoological garden, containing all the birds 
and animals of the country ; and another garden, 
full of rare and beautiful trees, plants, and 
flowers. 

The city has quite a large, handsome theatre, and 
we went one evening in company with the Ameri- 
can minister's family. A French opera company 
was there for the season, and they received a sub- 
sidy of ^20,000 from the government. The play 



AT THE OPERA. 121 

was not specially enjoyable, but the whole scene 
was interesting, the arrangement of the theatre 
being very different from ours. The main body 
of the house was occupied entirely by men, and, it 
is needless to say, was completely emptied between 
acts. The rest of the house is made up of boxes, 
spaces partitioned off, seating either five or six 
persons. The American minister's box, in which 
we sat, was in the first balcony; that of President 
Barrios on the first floor, facing the stage. There 
were many fine toilettes — for the ladies go in full 
dress, and the foreigners and natives of the 
wealthiest class dress very elegantly, having their 
costumes direct from Paris. Mrs. Barrios was 
present with one of her governesses, and looked 
very beautiful, attired in a rich silk and resplen- 
dent with diamonds. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A BULL FIGHT. 

Very soon after our arrival in Guatemala we 
heard much of the great national Spanish amuse- 
ment, the bull fight, which occurred every afternoon 
at four o'clock during Carnival, although it usu- 
ally took place only on Sundays. These were to 
be the last of the season, as Lent began immedi- 
ately after Carnival. Our friend the proprietor of 
the river steamers was still in Guatemala, and 
offered to serve as escort if we wished to go, but 
added that we should probably be disappointed, 
as there was usually very little excitement attend- 
ing a bull fight, that the bulls were quite tame, 
and the killing of them a most brutal exhibition, 
which none but a Spaniard could enjoy; still, as 
we had never been, and it was the great national 
sport, we ought to go. This and this alone was 
our reason for going. With a desire to learn as 
much as possible of the character and customs of 

12Z 



VICTIMS OF CARNIVAL. 123 

the people, we felt that this their characteristic 
institution could not be overlooked. This zeal for 
knowledge, however, was very severely punished, 
for the witnessing of this barbarous spectacle was 
a most painful experience. 

Since it was Carnival we were cautioned not to 
wear anything that water, ink, or flour would spoil. 
This caution, in our case, was entirely unneces- 
sary, as the mozos with our luggage had not yet 
arrived, and the suits worn in the long ride had 
become so dilapidated and discolored as to present 
no temptations to the players at Carnival, who left 
us quite unmolested. 

As we came in sight of the " Plaza de Toros " 
we saw a large crowd of people and a great many 
policemen near one of the windows where tickets 
were sold, and heard the English language spoken 
in the loudest and most vehement manner. As 
we came nearer we saw the cause of all this tumult 
to be two young Americans, from Massachusetts, 
evidently thoroughly enraged. They were covered 
completely from head to foot with flour, water, and 
gorgeous paint, and, with coats off and fists doubled 
up, were gesticulating wildly as they poured forth 
a torrent of angry words. But they might just as 



124 A RELIC OF BARBARISM. 

well have been talking to ** stocks and stones," for 
not one in that crowd understood a single word 
they said. As we came up one of them was just 
saying, in the most forcible manner of which the 
English language is capable, that " if he could not 
walk the streets without being assaulted in that 
manner, he would know the reason then and there, 
if he had to lick the whole Republic," We got 
their attention at once by a word of English, and 
explained that this was merely the custom in Car- 
nival, and that it was better to take it all quietly 
and good-naturedly than to undertake the annihi- 
lation of Guatemala. Thereupon they calmed 
down, bought their tickets, and went inside. 

This is an illustration of the great courtesy and 
patience shown to strangers by the officials — far 
greater than that practised in our own country — 
for if it had been natives making such a disturb- 
ance they would have been locked up immediately. 

The arena is after the same model as the old 
Greek and Roman amphitheatres, for the Spaniard 
inherited this custom from his Roman ancestors, 
the bull fight being the only representative at 
present of the old gladiatorial combats. 

The building is circular, about fifteen feet high, 



A GAV THRONG. 12$ 

of the same material as the houses, but gorgeously 
painted with red, and decorated with flags. A 
band of music plays outside while the gay throng 
is assembling, and crowds of soldiers and police- 
men are seen with something of a feeling of relief, 
for a spell of horror comes upon one even on ap- 
proaching the place. 

Inside is the large circular ring, the place of the 
combat, open to the sky but enclosed by a mod- 
erately high fence, in front of which are placed 
at intervals wooden guards, and behind these 
the fighters may retreat when hotly pursued by 
the bull. The seats are raised as in a circus or 
theatre, and the uppermost circle of seats is roofed 
over so as to be sheltered from the sun, and for 
these an extra price is charged. 

The ring was capable of seating three or 
four thousand people, and the throng gathered 
there included the wealth and aristocracy of the 
city as well as the poorer classes; but, what 
seemed most surprising, parents came bringing 
their little innocent children to witness this brutal 
spectacle. The wealthy ladies were dressed ele- 
gantly ; the whole audience had a holiday air, and 
seemed to be in just the liveliest and happiest 



12^ THE ACTORS. 

mood. There was never a more brilliant throng 
than assembles at a Spanish bull fight. 

When the time arrived for the performance to 
begin, the band took its place inside, and the crowd, 
in which the boy element was conspicuous, showed 
its impatience by stamping feet, clapping hands, 
and the usual demonstrations shown in our thea- 
tres. Finally the gate opened and the compan)/ 
entered amid music from the band. The company 
consisted of six performers on foot, gorgeously 
dressed in tight-fitting suits of red, green, blue, or 
crimson, richly trimmed with lace and gilt, with 
little black velvet caps, white stockings, and long 
capes of two colors draped gracefully over the 
shoulder. Next came two men, called " pica- 
dores," on horse-back, also richly dressed, and bear- 
ing long pikes. Behind them came three mules, 
all of the same size, harnessed together, furnished 
with jingling bells, gayly caparisoned with saddles 
of red and white, and driven by several boys crack- 
ing enormously long whip-lashes. They coursed 
the ring, presenting a brilliant appearance ; the per- 
formers made a low bow to the master of ceremo- 
nies, and then all withdrew except the six actors, 
one of whom repaired to a side door to await the 



TORTURING THE BULL. 12/ 

coming of the bull, doubtless with far less trepida- 
tion than we felt, who were witnessing our first 
bull fight. 

The animal came with a plunge, and this man 
threw into his back a barbed wire, surmounted by 
a gay bouquet of tissue paper. The bull dashed 
for the men in the ring, who slipped dexterously 
out of the way, and, as soon as he became a little 
calmer, waved their gay-colored capes in front of 
him. Then the riders came in to excite him fur- 
ther by goading him with their long spears. This 
use of horses is one of the very worst features, for 
the poor things are blindfolded and are forced by 
their riders up to the very horns of the bull, 
where they are completely at his mercy, and are 
often killed. 

The next performance was the thrusting of the 
'* banderillas," — long darts gayly adorned with 
tissue paper, which were thrown, two at a time, 
into his shoulders. All this was to infuriate the 
bull, but this poor creature seemed very tame, and, 
after chasing some of the men until they disap- 
peared behind their wooden guards, looked about 
in a dazed, helpless way, that was truly pitiful, 
evidently suffering pain, with blood streaming 



128 A WONDERFUL FEAT, 

down his sides from the darts. The audience, 
however, felt no sympathy for him, only great 
derision because he was no fiercer, and kept crying, 
"otro toro, otro toro " ("another bull, another 
bull"), and calling for "la musica" to enliven their 
flagging spirits. Still the actors tried to enrage 
him by waving before him their colored capes, and 
the horsemen would frequently goad him with the 
long pike, until our only wish was that they would 
kill him and put him out of his misery. 

The killing of the bull is really a skilful and 
wonderful feat, when well done. The weapon 
used is a sword about two and a half feet long, 
and the actor has to conform to certain conditions. 
He cannot take the bull unawares, the bull must be 
in a position on the offensive, coming to attack 
him, and the sword must be plunged in a particular 
spot back of the head and in front of the fore 
shoulder, so as to pass through the heart. After 
the bull becomes somewhat weary, the "matador " 
prepares to kill him. The red cape waved in front 
of him attracts his attention and he makes a rush 
for the man, who, without stirring from his posi- 
tion, as the bull's head is lowered to toss him in 
the air, dexterously moves his body sideways to 



THE ''Matador:' 129 

clear the bull's horns, plunges the sword as quick 
as a flash, and gets out of the way. 

The ''matador" in this instance was most skil. 
ful, and quick as lightning plunged the sword to 
its hilt through the heart. The bull stopped in 
twice his length, and fell dead. Then the gayly 
harnessed mules were driven in on a run, and the 
lifeless body was dragged quickly around the cir- 
cuit of the ring, and finally through the door, in 
the midst of cracking whips, jingling bells, gay 
music, and tremendous applause. 

This performance is usually repeated until four 
bulls are killed, with no variation except what the 
disposition of the bull provides. At this fight the 
second bull was lively enough to upset a horse 
and rider occasionally ; but the third one was of an 
entirely different character, such as is rarely wit- 
nessed. He came into the ring with rage and fury, 
as if bent upon avenging the unjust death of the 
other two, plunging through the gate as soon as 
it was open ; so quickly that the performer failed 
to thrust the wired bouquet. But there was no 
need of goading or torturing to excite his wrath, 
and the actors themselves seemed to have a 
wholesome fear of him. It was some time before 



130 MASTER OF THE SITUATION', 

they got an opportunity to throw the " banderil* 
las," and when the first two tore into his flesh he 
stopped short, shook his body to try to get rid 
of them, pawing the ground and frothing at the 
mouth in his rage. As one of the horsemen ven- 
tured to ride toward him, the bull made a rush, 
struck the horse in the side, disembowelling him, 
and throwing the rider to the ground. Then, 
without slackening his speed, he rushed at the 
other horse, turned him head over heels, and 
threw the rider ten feet into the air. The man fell 
flat on his back with great violence, and lay there 
stunned, at the mercy of the bull. He was then 
the only man in the ring, all the others having 
retreated behind their guards ; but one of them 
quickly appeared, to attract the bull's attention. 
As the bull rushed for him he dexterously stepped 
aside, and ran as fast as he could ; but just as he 
was going to jump behind the guard, he was 
caught on the horns of the bull, and thrown vio- 
lently. He was carried out of the ring, still alive, 
but died from his injuries next day. The bull 
then returned to his first victim, still lying 
stunned on the ground, drove hi? horns into the 
man's head and killed him, thus proving himself 



A WANTON SACRIFICE, 13I 

master of the situation by the death of two men 
and one horse. 

This fearful tragedy, as far as we could ob- 
serve, had no particular effect upon the audi- 
ence, which seemed entirely unmoved by any 
feelings of horror or pity. The killing of the 
bull was not attempted. Instead, he was las- 
sooed, bound with ropes, and removed from the 
ring. It was then our dinner hour ; and having 
seen already too much, we withdrew, assured by 
our friend that we had witnessed a genuine bull 
fight. 

After the performance it is customary to raffle 
for the bodies of the slain bulls, the numbers 
of the reserved seats being placed in a hat, 
and four drawn out. Then the ring is given 
up to the audience, several bulls are let in, and 
the boys and any who wish go in and amuse 
themselves. 

As to the moral effects on a nation of such a 
barbarous institution as the bull fight, it is quite 
unnecessary to speak. The fact that an audience 
of men, women, and children, can not only con- 
template with calmness, but actually enjoy seeing 
an animal goaded and tortured, and finally killed^ 



132 THE SPANISH VIEW. 

to see noble horses wantonly sacrificed, and even 
human life recklessly thrown away, shows a hor- 
rible and almost incredible condition of society. 
How a Spaniard can enjoy it — and none but a 
Spaniard can — is beyond the comprehension of 
any other human being! Equally difficult is it 
to appreciate the manner in which this amuse- 
ment is aggrandized by the Spaniards. It is con- 
sidered a profession worthy of all the respect and 
admiration given to any branch of the arts. There 
are certain prescribed laws which all the actors 
must obey, and every matador is criticised as care- 
fully as a star actor or opera singer in America. 
But the Spaniard alone regards this sport as an 
art. For an American, with any feeling whatever, 
there is no more shocking or harrowing specta- 
cle than a bull fight. The feelings of indignation, 
horror, and disgust, excited in one first witnessing 
a bull fight are beyond description, or even the 
power of imagination. No wonder that in lands 
where bull fights occur revolutions are frequent, 
and human life is esteemed of but little value. 
It is to be hoped that they will soon become a 
thing of the past, and it seems strange that they 
have not long ago become so. There is a slight 



A NEEDED REFORM. 133 

move in this direction. In Spain, the laws pro- 
hibit the establishment of any new arenas, and in 
Mexico they are prohibited altogether in what is 
called the '' Federal District," in which the City of 
Mexico is situated ; but within a few miles of the 
city they are held, and the immense number of 
vehicles of all kinds, besides large numbers of 
horse-cars, and numerous horsemen who eagerly 
repair to the spot, shows most eloquently the hold 
this barbarous amusement has on most of the 
people. Foreigners generally witness one bull 
fight, but rarely care to see the performance 
repeated. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ANTIGUA AND A BURIED CITY. 

Thirty miles from Guatemala are the sites of 
the two former capitals, one buried by an eruption 
from the volcano "Agua" in 1541, the other de- 
stroyed by earthquake in 1775. A regular coach, 
or " diligencia," as it is called, runs there from 
Guatemala ; but the pleasanter way is to hire a 
team and start early in the morning, for the ride 
is a long, hot, and dusty one. 

We started at half-past five in the morning, in 
company with a gentleman and his wife whose 
acquaintance we made in Guatemala, The best 
team we could obtain was the same one in which 
we had come from San Antonio. We had the 
same youthful driver, but two stout mules, instead 
of the little, black, rat-like creatures we had before. 

The ride in the fresh morning air was delight- 
ful. We passed one of the most beautiful gardens 
of the city ; the '' Castello," a great ' Spanish 

134 



A BUSY SCENE, 135 

.astle on a high hill; and thence by a broad, 
jmooth driveway through the gates of the city. 

At this time of the day the road was thronged 
with Indians loaded with all sorts of merchandise, 
wood, vegetables, fruit, pottery, hay, coal, every- 
thing needed in the capital, to which they were 
going from the little villages all around to sell 
their supplies in the market. They always go 
in groups ; the men by themselves and the women 
by themselves, a man and a woman never walking 
together unless married. The men always bear 
the burdens on their backs ; the women on their 
heads, their backs usually being pre-occupied by 
the inevitable baby, for the baby is never left at 
home. Whether the mother is going to market to 
sell goods, to church to hear mass, or to a funeral 
to weep in the procession, the baby always goes 
too; and, what seemed most strange to us, we 
never once, in all the time we were there, heard 
an Indian baby cry. They seem to be born into 
the world as old as their fathers and mothers. 
We never saw children laughing and running and 
playing as our children do; they were always 
grave and serious, as if they had the burden of 
years and grave responsibilities resting on their 



13^ A RARE garden: 

shoulders. Both boys and girls begin to work 
as soon as they can walk, and never seem to 
expect or wish for any fun or play as children 
here do. 

We passed through Indian villages like those 
with which we were already familiar. Half way 
to Antigua we stopped at a beautiful place where 
a tolerable breakfast can be obtained. There 
is a large garden here of rare and beautiful 
plants and flowers. From this time there was 
little pleasure to be obtained from the drive ; 
it was very warm, the dust rose in clouds so 
thick that we could not see even the tails of the 
mules, and we were almost suffocated. About 
eleven o'clock we arrived in the ruined city of 
Antigua, and drove up to the hotel " Comercio," 
which is kept by natives, a family specially notice- 
able for their great beauty, the dusky beauty of 
the tropics. 

Antigua is situated in a fertile, well-watered 
valley, richer and more beautiful than the one in 
which the present capital is, for that is almost 
entirely surrounded by deep ravines, so that the 
water runs off, and the city has to be supplied by 
means of aqueducts bringing water into fountains. 



ANTIGUA. 137 

It is believed by the people that these great ra- 
vines would so break the force of an earthquake 
as to save the present capital from the fate of 
its predecessor. 

At the time of its destruction, Antigua was one 
of the finest and richest cities in Spanish Amer- 
ica, possessing twenty monasteries, one hundred 
churches, fine public buildings, and over sixty 
thousand inhabitants. In this vicinity live the 
most superior tribe of Indians, those who make 
the finest pottery, do the richest embroidery and 
most exquisite carving. The city has been partly 
rebuilt, and many people still live here ; but the 
whole aspect is that of a ruined city. Every- 
where are shattered houses, tottering walls, and 
crumbling churches. The whole has a sad, 
gloomy aspect, and is the mere ghost of the 
former queen of this richest and most beautiful 
portion of Central America. 

The ruins of the churches are most interesting, 
especially that of the largest, the great monastery 
of the Capuchin monks, a magnificent build- 
ing, with enormous domes, arches, pillars, and 
most elaborate ornamentation. The power of the 
earthquake was well demonstrated in the tumble? 



138 A WEIRD RUIN. 

down walls, immense cracks, and huge masses 
precipitated to the ground. Every arch is broken, 
every capital fallen, every window shattered, every 
column decayed, and flowers and cactus are grow- 
ing everywhere. Much of the building has entirely 
disappeared, its boundary being marked only by 
a low line of white, but there are countless rooms 
left, and we wandered about for an hour or more 
through the dreary, empty spaces. It seemed as 
if in the vast cloisters the shades of the old friars 
still lingered, and we could almost hear the mo- 
notonous chant which had so many times filled 
the spacious rooms. Under this spell we were 
really startled by being suddenly confronted by a 
priestly form. A second glance revealed, how- 
ever, only a wax figure in priestly robes — Igna- 
tius, the patron saint of the church ; but it was so 
very lifelike that every one of us had started back 
at the first glance. In this monastery, severest 
penance was performed, and unbelievers were 
most rigorously punished, sometimes roasted over 
hot coals, or walled up in cells. Many of these 
cells, having only a small hole at the top to admit 
a little air and a morsel of bread, are still to be 
seen, and were pointed out to us by our guide. 



OUR LITTLE CICERONE. 139 

After this we visited the church, of San 
Francisco, a part of which was razed to the 
ground, but the front was still standing, though 
much shaken, full of cracks and with headless and 
limbless images. Much of the adornment, both 
inside and outside of this church, is very beautiful. 
At the left is a portion in which worship is still 
held, and beneath one image representing Christ 
in the agonies of death were wax models of parts 
of the body, offered by devotees of the church, 
who, if they have a disease in any portion of the 
body, buy these wax representations from the 
priest and bring them to this image, expecting 
thus to be miraculously healed. This is one of 
the old practices of the times before Luther's 
Reformation. 

We were even more interested in our guide 
than in the ruin, for he was the brightest little 
black-eyed boy, who showed us all over the vast 
old monastery with the greatest enthusiasm, talk- 
ing all the while as fast as he could. Above all 
else he took especial pride in the bell, which he 
seemed to think must be the greatest wonder to 
us. He kept constantly saying, " la campana, la 
rampana/' end urging us to go and see. But we 



140 AGUA AND FUEGO. 

were too lazy to climb a step-ladder and mount a 
crumbling staircase for nothing but the most or- 
dinary bell, so we tried to satisfy him with pre- 
tended admiration of it from the solid ground. 

Antigua is well worth a visit just for the magni- 
ficent view one sees from the Plaza. In this part 
of the country the mountain chain reaches its 
greatest height ; and as one stands in the cen- 
tre of the Plaza, his whole view is bounded by 
these high mountains, most conspicuous among 
which are the magnificent volcanoes Agua and 
Fuego (Water and Fire), rising as if from his 
very feet. 

Agua is the most noted volcano of Central 
America, and the highest peak, being about four- 
teen thousand feet high. It is one of the most 
beautiful sights in the world, in shape a perfect 
cone, the very ideal form of a volcano. Just 
a little beyond is Fuego, nearly as high, with 
three peaks, one of which is always smoking. 
The earthquake which destroyed Antigua, and 
those which are now felt almost every night in 
the capital, are attributed to this volcano. Only a 
few years ago there was an eruption from it, in 
which several Indian villages were destroyed. 



''CIUDAD VIEJAr 141 

The eruption was attended by severe shocks of 
earthquake; great stones, weighing tons, were 
hurled many miles ; and fire, smoke, and lava 
were emitted. 

The view of these volcanoes is so grand and 
beautiful that in spite of the sad, mournful feeling 
one must have in visiting this city, he feels 
entranced and reluctant to go. They fascinate 
and allure the beholder, so that he feels as if he 
never wanted to leave them. It seems a pity the 
capital could not remain here, for what was gained 
in safety was certainly lost in beauty of situation ; 
but these mighty forces, the relentless sovereigns 
of the region, decreed otherwise, and Guatemala 
fled from them, until they appeared but as blue, 
cloud-like forms in the distance. 

A short distance from Antigua is the site of the 
old city, ''Ciudad Vieja," as it is called, the first 
capital of Guatemala, and also the site of the old 
Indian temple. To reach it we rode through 
beautiful avenues of trees, past large, fine estates 
and extensive fields of cactus, on which the 
cochineal insect feeds, for this is the great cochi- 
neal-producing section. This whole region is 
exceedingly beautiful. 



142 A THIEF IN THE NIGHT. 

At the very foot of Agua was the old Indian 
capital, and at this place Pedro de Alvarado, the 
lieutenant of Cortez, fought the battles which 
made him conqueror and governor of Guatemala. 
Here he encountered most vigorous resistance. 
It is said that two hundred and thirty-two thou- 
sand well-armed Indians went out to meet him ; 
but the superior arms of the Spaniards, and, 
above all, the terror inspired by the cavalry, were 
too much for the Indians, who had never seen 
horses before, and supposed the rider and horse 
to be one, some frightful supernatural being or 
apparition. At the end of six days their king was 
slain, and their subjugation complete. Alvarado 
razed the Indian temple to the ground, destroyed 
their capital, and built on its site a Catholic 
church and a new city for Spain. This was in 
1524, but seventeen years after (in 1541) it was 
completely buried by a flood of mud and water. 
This flood is usually attributed to a great internal 
lake in the volcano Agua. The eruption took 
place at midnight, so not a soul escaped. Alva- 
rado himself happened to be absent from the city ; 
but his palace was destroyed, and his wife 
perished in it. The only building spared was the 



AT THE FOOT OF AGUA. 143 

church, which then sat on a mound forty feet 
high. The flood of mud covered the city just to 
the steps of the church, so that the ground is now 
level' with the sill, where once there was quite 
an ascent to it. Near by is a tree where the 
first mass in the country was held by the Spanish 
army. 

Over three hundred years ago this city was 
buried and it never has been excavated. When it 
is, doubtless much that is strange and valuable 
will be discovered, for it was a very rich city, the 
Spaniards having collected there all the treasure 
they could lay their hands upon. There it all 
rests secure, and above it houses are built and fine 
estates are cultivated. We visited one at the 
very foot of Agua, where lived a wealthy fair- 
haired Spaniard, who received us most cordially 
and politely, seeming to live entirely thoughtless 
of danger, with a buried city beneath him and a 
destructive volcano above. We v/ere so near the 
volcano here that we could plainly see where the 
side of the crater was blown off in the eruption. 
The ascent of this volcano is often made. One 
can go part way on mule-back and then one has 
to climb. The view from the summit is said to be 



144 ''CERRO DEL CARMEN^ 

unsurpassed, and, on looking down into the crater^ 
it is possible to see water below. 

The next day, at noon, we said " Adios " to all in 
the hotel, for no one here ever omits a salutation 
where there is the least chance of making use 
of one, and the servants feel deeply grieved if you 
do not exchange parting words with them. Then 
we rode away, keeping our eyes fixed as long as 
possible on the blue majestic forms of Agua and 
Fuego. When they faded, our enjoyment was 
gone, and we were again enveloped in dust. We 
arrived at Guatemala just in time for dinner, and 
were, on the whole, much pleased with our visit 
to its ghostly ancestors. This visit was an 
impressive one, and was once afterwards forcibly 
called to mind. It was one night when the 
national band played at the '' Cerro del Carmen." 
An old Moorish church, the oldest in the country, 
stands on the summit of this hill, and there is a 
fine view of the city and these distant volcanoes. 
It was a strange and varied crowd that gathered 
there to hear the music. There was the Presi- 
dent's family, the poor Indian woman selling 
candy, the Spanish minister in his coach, Amer- 
ican and German ladies and gentlemen, the ragged 



FOREBODINGS. 145 

and dirty "ladino," the handsome, dark Spaniard 
on a gay, prancing horse, and the poor mozo, just 
resting from his daily burden, — making in all a 
gay and curious scene. There in the waning day, 
looking out toward the powers which had already 
destroyed two capitals of Guatemala, it seemed as 
if this, too, were only waiting its turn ; as if this 
gay throng, like the old revellers of Pompeii, were 
doomed to be overwhelmed by the fury of these 
remorseless forces. 



CHAPTER X. 

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT AND MRS. BARRIOS. 

President Barrios was greatly interested in 
having foreigners come into the country, especially 
Americans. Coffee, the principal export of the 
country, was the one subject in which he was most 
interested, and when he heard that a representa- 
tive of a large coffee house in the United States 
was in Guatemala he sent an invitation for us to 
call at the " Palace," naming the day and hour. 
My father was then about to make a trip of a few 
days to Champerico, one of the large shipping 
ports, and so had to postpone the interview until 
his return, and just before our departure from 
Guatemala. A friend of the President went with 
us to present us and act as interpreter. 

At the entrance of the " Palace " or Govern- 
ment building, we were confronted by a guard of 
soldiers and officers, and, on presenting our card 
to one of them, were shown inside the court to 

146 



BARRIOS. 147 

the waiting-room, where there were already two 
Spanish gentlemen waiting for an interview. The 
officers, after presenting our card to the President, 
returned and said the General was then busy 
with foreign ministers, but would see us soon, and 
told the two gentlemen waiting that they would 
be unable to see the President that day and would 
have to call again to-morrow. They seemed as- 
tonished, and asked if he had not made a mis- 
take and if it was not the Americans who were to 
call again. 

In about half an hour we were shown into the 
President's room, which was small, and plainly fur- 
nished. There were several piles of books on the 
floor, and great heaps of all kinds of vegetables 
and fruits. 

The President was a fine-looking man, of me- 
dium size, perhaps five feet eight or nine inches, 
and stoutly built ; of a dark complexion, with full 
beard and with an expression of great will power 
and determination. He was said to be about fifty 
years old? though he looked younger. He sat half 
reclining upon a sofa with his hand thrown over 
the back of it in proximity to two bell knobs, 
whose use was told us afterwards : one was to call 



148 A CORDIAL GREETING. 

his secretary ; the other a sharpshooter, who in 
an instant of time would stand with a cocked 
revolver pointed at the head of the suspected 
visitor. Such precautions Barrios took against 
assassination. A year before, his life had been 
attempted by the bursting of a bomb-shell, and 
since then he had not appeared on the streets 
without a guard of soldiers. 

When we were presented he scrutinized us care- 
fully and extended his hand without rising ; but 
being satisfied, after a glance, of our honest inten- 
tions, he then greeted us most cordially, asking at 
once if we could speak Spanish, as he did not speak 
English. He was dressed in plain citizen's clothes, 
and his whole bearing was at once pleasing and 
indicative of greatness. Seeing us look inquir- 
ingly at the heaps of vegetables, he explained that 
they were gifts from the Indians, brought to show 
to him their industry. He was very much inter- 
ested to speak of coffee, — the principal subject of 
our interview, — he himself being the largest ex- 
porter of coffee in the country. Accordingly, w^e 
were invited into the courtyard, where he had sam- 
ple bags of coffee from his different plantations, 
showing the quality of the present crop, and these 



Z>EVOTION OF THE INDIANS. 149 

he invited us to examine. He owned extensive 
plantations and was said to export forty thousand 
bags annually. As a matter of fact, for years, 
from 'the sale of all coffee in the United States 
and Europe, he never had a dollar remitted, but 
invested it in the countries where the coffee was 
sold. In the courtyard were seventy-five or a 
hundred Indians from the country, sitting and 
lying on the ground in the sun, waiting hours and 
hours and sometimes all day for a chance to pay 
their respects to him. As soon as he came in 
sight every Indian rose and took off his hat. 
Many were satisfied with a mere glance, while 
others had some trivial complaint to offer. 
These complaints were often somewhat amus- 
ing, but Barrios always listened to them atten- 
tively, and with a few words and a pat on the 
head sent the Indian off perfectly happy. He 
always saw that the Indians were protected in 
what rights they did have, and was worshipped 
by them. 

The interview lasted about an hour. At its 
close the President expressed pleasure in the meet- 
ing ; invited us to call on his family, and said if 
there was any favor he could do us in the way of 



ISO ''LA PRESIDENTAr 

business, of any courtesy he could show us, he 
should be happy to do so. 

We were most favorably impressed with Presi- 
dent Barrios, although previous to this interview 
it had been quite impossible to come to any conclu- 
sion, so contradictory and various were the opin- 
ions we heard expressed, some declaring him a 
cruel tyrant, others a great and wise ruler. 

The invitation to call on his family we accepted 
the day before leaving Guatemala. Their house 
was very large, but not conspicuous, being built 
exactly like the others, as Spanish architecture 
seems to admit of little variety. We were met at 
the door by one of the governesses, who spoke Eng- 
lish, and were shown directly to the parlor, which 
we had a few moments to observe before " La Pre- 
sidenta " entered. It was handsomely furnished, 
although ordinary as compared with houses of 
wealth in our country, but what especially struck 
us as peculiar was the arrangement of all chairs in 
two stiff rows, facing each other ; but this we 
learned was truly Spanish, designed to keep the 
ladies and gentlemen apart, a matter that is duly 
considered in all Spanish etiquette. 

Mrs. Barrios did not keep us long waiting, but 



A ROMANTIC ALLIANCE. 15 I 

soon entered, accompanied by two of her children, 
very bright little girls. We were surprised to see 
a lady so young and fair, although we had heard 
much of her youth and beauty. The story of her 
marriage is well known and illustrates Barrios' 
will and determination. The first time he saw her 
he determined to make her his wife. She refused 
again and again, but yielded when he, by harsh 
measures, brought trouble upon her family. After 
their marriage they seemed to live happily except 
for the shadow cast by the fact that his life was 
constantly in danger. It was said she had not 
yet recovered from the shock produced by the 
attempted assassination of the President. 

However varied were the opinions entertained in 
regard to the President, we heard but one expressed 
in regard to Mrs. Barrios from the time we en- 
tered the country until we left it, and that of 
highest praise. All, from the wealthy foreigner 
to the lowliest Indian, pronounced her " the love- 
liest woman in Guatemala." 

Mrs. Barrios is very beautiful, tall, and slender, 
with a fair, almost pale complexion, with black hair 
and soft black eyes. She wore white and a great 
profusion of diamonds. She had a sad, almost 



152 ON THE EVE OF REVOLUTION, 

careworn expression, which seemed strange in a 
person so young, beautiful, and holding such a high 
position ; but was it any wonder, for she knew, 
as we did not, what the next day, February 28, 
would bring forth ; she knew as no one else of the 
proclamation to be issued by the President on the 
following day, and his great enterprise of '* La 
Union." 

She spoke English, as do the children, quite 
well. She talked of her great love and admiration 
for the United States, and said the one wish of 
her life was to see it again, little knowing how 
soon and under what sad circumstances her wish 
was to be gratified. She seemed to enter most 
fully into all her husband's plans for the advance- 
ment of Guatemala, and spoke with enthusiasm of 
all the new enterprises undertaken by him, and 
especially of the contemplated railroad. With 
equal enthusiasm she spoke of the education of 
her children, which seemed one of the greatest 
interests of her life. 

As we were leaving, she expressed regret that 
the United States was so ignorant of her country, 
and bade us, on our return, write some articles 
for the newspapers, " that the people might know 



THE GREAT DECREE. 153 

there was something besides Indians in Guate- 
mala." She expressed, as did the President, de- 
sire to serve in any way possible ; and now that 
she is making her home here, we can only wish 
that our people will extend to her such courtesy 
and kindness as were shown to us in her country 
both by herself and the President. 

The next day, the day on which we left Guate- 
mala, Barrios issued his decree proclaiming a 
Union of the Central American States, and him- 
self " Supreme Military Ruler." Not many weeks 
after, he was slain in battle, and we heard the 
news with great regret ; for that he had done and 
would have continued to do a great and good 
work for Guatemala there can be no doubt. Far 
be it from us to attempt to judge him. It is 
almost impossible for any one to do this justly, 
even though he has been in the country and seen 
him, opinions and reports were so contradictory 
and various ; for, like all great men (and he was 
great), he had staunch friends who fairly wor- 
shipped him, and bitter enemies who as thor- 
oughly hated him ; but one and all alike attested 
to the fact of the great work he had done for 
Guatemala, of his ability to rule, and his superior- 



154 A REPUBLIC IN NAME, 

ity over any man in Central America. To illus- 
trate, one gentleman, a resident of Central Amer- 
ica, who had a son in San Salvador, after railing 
at Barrios in the strongest terms as a cruel 
tyrant, went on to say, in the next breath, that 
Barrios had made the best government in any 
of the states, and he himself should be glad if 
Barrios were President of San Salvador, for that 
government had no stability ; there was no basis 
for business, and titles were not worth the paper 
on which they were written. 

The government of Guatemala is a republic in 
name merely. The council of state consists of 
twenty-four members, elected by the house of 
representatives, consisting of fifty-two members 
elected by the people. We made inquiries about 
the elections ; but, as far as we could ascertain, 
there seemed to be no regular method. Ballots 
are sometimes issued among officials and the 
principal men, and they vote according to instruc- 
tions — at least so we are informed. Barrios made 
the government somewhat more stable ; but be- 
fore his time, as is now the case in South 
America, there was every Uttle while a fight 
for the presidency, the victorious party holding 



THE IRON HAND. IS5 

it until some faction rose up which was strong 
enough to overpower them. 

Barrios became ruler of Guatemala by force, as 
is the manner in all these republics. He placed 
himself at the head of a small band collected on 
the borders of Mexico, and took possession of 
the government. He was by title President, but 
in reality absolute monarch. All the laws were 
instituted by him, and not by the legislature of 
the people. At one time a new member took 
occasion in a speech to oppose a certain meas- 
ure, but he soon after disappeared, and was 
never again seen, neither did the legislative body 
ever dare inquire what had become of him. There 
was a perfect system of spies throughout the 
country ; every official was watched, and every 
sign of a revolution was suppressed in its incipi- 
ency. At one time a party of conspirators hid 
themselves in an underground passage in one of 
the old monasteries of Antigua. It was a long 
time before they were found ; but when they were, 
Barrios had them all shot. When, later, his life' 
was attempted by the bursting of a bomb-shell, he 
pardoned the executors, but shot five or six who 
were suspected to have planned the deed, and ban- 



156 A FALSE STEP. 

ished others, one of whom was an intimate friend, 
the next highest in position in Guatemala, one of 
the ministers, and the owner of the finest estate 
which we saw in the city. Barrios scrupled at no 
means to be rid of any one who stood in his way, 
and that his acts were often most cruel there can 
be no denying, but it must be further granted 
that he doubtless thought them necessary in 
order to rule the people and establish a stable 
quiet government. Furthermore, much as it is 
and ought to be condemned, it must be remem- 
bered that this is the Spanish way of doing busi- 
ness. They clinch all their acts with a sword or 
pistol, and think there is no force or power save 
in the use of these weapons. 

Of the last act of his life we can but say it 
was unfortunate. He professed to be truly patri- 
otic. Certainly that the Central American States 
should be united under one government was and 
is most desirable. Then they might be some- 
thing of a power, while now each by itself is 
insignificant. There was but one man in Central 
America capable of standing at the head, and 
that was Barrios. A union had been greatly agi- 
tated, and throughout the country all professed to 



SECRET PREPARATIONS. 15/ 

desire it, though, as the end showed, they did not 
really wish it. There is too much petty jealousy 
between the different states to make it possible 
in this generation. 

His skill in planning the movement was certainly 
admirable. Not the slightest suspicion of it was 
known the day beforehand. We heard one or two 
remarks which we called to mind afterward, 
though they did not impress us at the time. 
Some little curiosity was expressed as to why so 
many soldiers were going to Guatemala, and it 
was said that President Barrios must be "up to 
something." The answer always was, "It is only 
a review of the troops. He is expected soon to 
cross the country, and all preparations are being 
made for him." This was most remote from his 
real plan. 

The greatest excitement was caused by the 
proclamation of the Central American Union, and 
enthusiasm ran high. The newspapers afterward 
received from there were full of articles most 
patriotic, eloquent, and stirring. There were 
some which would hold rank with the finest ex- 
pressions of patriotism ever uttered in any coun- 
try or in behalf of the noblest cause. Nothing is 



15^ A FAITHLESS FRIEND. 

easier than to excite these people of imaginative, 
impulsive mind to the highest degree either of 
frenzy or nobleness, and in this case they were 
thoroughly aroused. 

The treachery of Zaldivar, a lifelong friend of 
Barrios, to whom he was indebted for the pres- 
idency of San Salvador, put an entirely new 
aspect on affairs, and was a great and unexpected 
blow to Barrios, who then went down to subjugate 
Salvador. At first, Guatemala was successful, but 
in the battle of Chalchuapa Barrios was slain 
while rallying his men, and with his life all in- 
spiration and courage died out. There was noth- 
ing left to inspire the army, though they fought 
most bravely for his dead body, and rescued it 
only with the loss of many of the bravest and 
best sons of Guatemala. 

A letter lately received from there pays the 
highest tribute to the action of our American 
minister, Mr. Hall, through the whole trouble. 
He worked nobly and well, and was the one " main- 
stay" in all the commotion, his house being a 
refuge not only for Americans, but also for many 
natives whose lives were in danger, especially after 
the death of Barrios, when all was disorganization 



THE MAN AND HIS TIME. 159 

and tumult. He did much toward stopping the 
trouble, and, if Zaldivar had not intercepted the 
cablegrams from Washington to Guatemala, would 
probably have averted war altogether, as Barrios 
waited nineteen days to hear from Washington 
before beginning proceedings, such was his respect 
for the judgment of the United States. 

In these days the good old Latin proverb, so 
worthy of consideration, seems to be forgotten, 
^^Def mortnis nil nisi bomiin " (of the dead nothing 
but good). There has been much written about 
Barrios, both favorable and unfavorable, principally 
the latter ; but the great mistake all are liable to 
make in estimating his character is to judge him 
by the standard of our day and country, forgetting 
that he was one of and ruled over a semi-civilized 
people, over a nation for three hundred years 
under the grinding and deteriorating rule of the 
Spaniards, and still really belonging to the cen- 
turies far in the past. Look at the condition of 
all colonies of Spain, those who have thrown off 
the yoke and those still under its power ! They 
are marked by constant insurrections, by deeds of 
violence, by instability, corruption, and stagnation. 
Such was Guatemala when President Barrios be- 



l60 BARRIOS* WORKS. 

came ruler, and for it, everything considered, he 
accomplished wonders. He was without doubt 
the man for the time and place. 

What he did can perhaps be no better expressed 
than by an extract from a Guatemala newspaper, 
translated from the Spanish, to the truth of which 
all must testify : — 

" General Barrios reformed completely Guate- 
mala. From a half-savage people he made a body 
of free citizens, educating them in innumerable 
schools, which he founded even in the insignificant 
little villages, and giving them the rights of fran- 
chise. The rule of horror and death, of times not 
far distant, was replaced by good laws ; freedom of 
worship and of the press were, thanks to him, 
effected in Guatemala. He has left many works 
of unquestionable merit and practical utility ; he 
crossed the republic with lines of telegraph, built 
the railroad in the South and planned one in the 
North, established lines of horse-cars in the capi- 
tal, and built many public buildings, such as the 
hippodrome, the penitentiary, the post-office, the 
polytechnic school, hospitals, and many more, too 
numerous to mention. Above all, he created a 
spirit of action and enterprise which, if it was 



A GLOWING TRIBUTE. l6l 

not completely dead, was sunk in heaviest leth- 
argy very like death. He found nothing and cre- 
ated everything, and such a work must be that of 
a great genius — a genius that gave life and action 
to everything touched by his hand." 

The article closes with a high tribute to his 
memory, which we would add, not as expressing a 
universal sentiment, but that of his admirers. " A 
noble great man. General Barrios died for his 
people as he had lived for them. The ball that 
passed through his heart smote also Guatemala. 
Now, since science and love are powerless to re- 
store the life in an instant of time taken from 
the dear ones who mourn his death, and for whom 
he gave his life's blood, let us, by making every 
effort to maintain public tranquillity, honor the re- 
pose of the illustrious commander, w^hose life was 
a constant struggle and perpetual effort for the 
good and advancement of Guatemala. May his 
sleep be respected, and let us go on with determi- 
nation and faith to work earnestly for the pros- 
perity and aggrandizement of Guatemala, thus 
realizing the dearest dream of the heroic soldier, 
able statesman, and honored President, General J. 
Rufino Barrios." 



CHAPTER XI. 

COFFEE PLANTATIONS, GROWTH AND CULTIVATION. 

There is not a more beautiful sight than a cof- 
fee plantation, with its shrubs of rich dark green, 
bearing white fragrant blossoms and bright crimson 
berries ; and the visitor to Guatemala, whether 
specially interested in coffee or not, will be sure 
to visit one after another of these fine estates. 
They usually cover many acres ; have good build- 
ings, fine avenues of trees, and large gardens 
nicely laid out, containing beautiful and often rare 
plants and shrubs. The owners are generally 
wealthy men, either Spaniards or Germans, and 
always receive visitors with the greatest pleasure 
and cordiality, showing them all about the estates 
and sending them away loaded with flowers. 

The plantations cover acres of ground, and the 

land is perfectly cultivated, — not a weed or spear 

of grass is allowed. The coffee plants are set out 

at equal distances, and in rows on a perfect line ; 

162 



THE COFFEE PLANT, 1 63 

all of them are of uniform size and height, and 
the tops look as perfect as a hedge that has been 
trimmed with the greatest of care. The average 
crop of a plantation is about one thousand to fif- 
teen hundred quintals annually. One plantation 
near the port of Champerico exports fifteen 
thousand bags and has three hundred and eighty 
thousand trees. 

The coffee plant is a shrub growing to the 
height of twelve to fifteen feet in its wild state, 
but under cultivation is kept down to six or eight 
feet. The shrub has a single stem, opening out at 
the top into long, dense, drooping branches, w^hich 
fall to the ground, making an unusually beautiful 
looking plant. The leaves are long and pointed, 
and of a dark, rich, glossy green. The flowers 
come out from the angle of the leaf in groups of 
from four to twelve, and are small, white, and fra- 
grant, resembling the jessamine. The fruit suc- 
ceeds the blossom, and very much resembles a 
cranberry in color, form, and size. When ripe the 
berries are of a dark crimson color, and consist of 
a pulpy mass containing two oval seeds, which are 
convex on one side and fiat on the other, and lie 
together face to face, separated only by a thin 



1 54 SETTING THE SHRUB. 

skin or parchment. Sometimes only one ^eed 
forms, and in process of growth, as it pushes itself 
against the dividing membrane and encounters no 
opposing growth, it naturally rounds over and 
makes the small, round bean known as pea- 
berry. 

To secure the proper growth of the coffee, plenty 
of shade is required. To reach this result on some 
plantations, the plants are set out several feet 
apart, and between them are planted shade trees 
which grow to a great height, with the foliage on 
the very top. On other plantations banana trees 
are planted in like manner for the same purpose. 
When these rules are not followed the coffee 
plants are placed very close together, and when 
fully grown the tops meet, making a solid body of 
very dark foliage, shutting out every ray of sun 
from the ground. 

The conditions for the cultivation of coffee in 
Guatemala are very much unlike many other coffee- 
growing countries ; a very large part of the coffee 
grown in Guatemalans on table-lands, or high plains, 
at an elevation of four thousand feet or more, and 
the varieties of soil are very marked, varying from 
a deep rich black loam to a red clay or sandy soil ; 



PREPARING THE BERRY. 1 65 

all of which are sometimes to be found in one or 
two miles ; consequently, in order to purchase 
Guatemala coffee, and get a high standard and 
uniform quality, every condition of growth and 
preparation must be known to the buyer. 

These conditions are, the proper elevation, 
location, the particular kind of soil, the planter's 
manner of cultivation, facilities for curing, and 
proper machinery. One single condition left out 
of the many is almost sure .to produce a coffee 
that will be below the standard of a fine drinking 

coffee. 

Most of the planters are rich, and have complete 
machinery. Large planters have the latest im- 
proved and best machinery, with power, usually 
steam. The works are quite extensive, and always 
located as near as possible in the centre of a planta- 
tion. If a running stream of water can be obtained 
in such a location, it is of great benefit ; for plenty 
of water saves labor and makes a more " stylish " 
coffee. 

The berries are picked and carried to the fac- 
tory, where they are run through a pulping ma- 
chine, a stream of water passing through the hop- 
per with the berries. The machine breaks the 



1 66 INDIAN LABOR. 

pulp, separates the berry, and the pulp is carried 
off and spread around the trees for dressing. The 
coffee berry runs off in a spout into a reservoir, 
which has a cemented bottom enclosed by masonry, 
■ — a cemented wall about two feet high, making it 
water-tight ; water is run through with the coffee 
bean, when it is washed ; the water is then drawn 
off, and the coffee remaining is dried in the sun ; 
it is then put through a machine which breaks the 
skin, winnows it, and makes it perfectly clean from 
chaff and dirt ; the coffee is next all hand-picked, 
or graded, making some four qualities ; then it is 
bagged, and when sold transported to a railroad or 
shipping port by carts or on the backs of Indians. 
The labor is done by the Indians, the men work- 
ing the land, the women and girls doing all the 
work at the mills, and picking the berries. In 
parts of the country where there is little coffee 
culture the berry is pulped by the Indian 
women by hand. The coffee is then dried and 
sold "in parchment"; that is, after it is pulped 
and dried, the berry remains encased in a thin 
membranous skin, then it is transported to some 
town where there is a factory, where it is per- 
fected for market. Labor is very cheap; the 



WATER IN- COFFEE-CURING. 1 6/ 

price for men per day is one real {\2\ cents), 
for women a medio {^\ cents). 

The coffee of San Salvador is cured without 
water, and it has a dark, dingy, discolored appear- 
ance ; much unlike the first quality of Guatemala, 
which is clear, waxy, transparent, and of a green 
color. 

It is claimed by merchants and planters in 
Salvador that coffee cured without water (which 
method is compulsory with them, as they have no 
water during the coffee season) is better, as it re- 
tains all the strength and flavor, which the use of 
water extracts to a certain degree ; but this theory, 
in our opinion, is not correct. 

The term " washed coffee," as understood with 
us here, is coffee that has been washed after it has 
been once dried and milled, which, apparently, does 
extract some of the strength and flavor, and con- 
sequently lessens the value of coffees naturally fine 
and rich, so far as the drinking quality is con- 
cerned, while the same process used on coffees 
which are rank and harsh in flavor is beneficial. 
But the use of water in pulping, while the bean 
is green, soft, and full of moisture, thereby clean- 
ing and curing, but retaining the original color, 



1 68 GUATEMALA COFFEES. 

must be the perfect way of curing, as this pre- 
serves the natural, perfect flavor of the berry. 

The curing of coffee is of vital importance, as it 
is in this that the foundation is laid for fine quality, 
aroma and perfection of style ; and when coffee, 
by improper treatment, becomes stained, spotted, 
or discolored, the drinking qualities and green 
appearance have certainly been proportionally 
damaged. 

Guatemala coffees have a wide range of value in 
drinking merits, although the style and appear- 
ance of the bean may be about the same, and this 
difference of drinking quality may often occur in 
the same coffee-growing district. The bulk of the 
crop of Guatemala coffee is exported to London 
and Hamburg, little coming to the United States, 
and that being third and fourth quality. San Jose 
and Champerico are the shipping ports of Guate- 
mala, Champerico being very much the larger 
port ; and the quality of the coffee grown in this 
vicinity is said to be the finest in the country. 

The facilities possessed by Guatemala for pro- 
ducing fine, ** sightly," perfect coffee are not ex- 
celled by any coffee-growing country ; but there 
are immense obstacles to be overcome in pur- 



DIFFICULTIES IN BUYING COFFEE. 1 69 

chasing coffee in Guatemala. As before said, the 
conditions already described must be studied to 
know the value of the coffee one is purchasing. 
Besides, only a very small part of the coffee 
is purchasable at all, as many of the large planta- 
tions are owned by parties in Europe, to whom 
the coffee is all shipped ; and most of the plant- 
ers that are able to move their crop prefer to 
consign their goods to their own correspondents 
and take their chances with the markets. This 
class of planters will not sell their coffees except 
at a fabulous price. What is more strange, there 
is never a bag of coffee in any city or shipping 
port for sale ; neither can a sample be found. 
The purchasable coffee is found only at the plan- 
tation, where the whole crop must be bought " in 
parchment," or an advance of cash made to enable 
the planter to have the coffee milled and graded ; 
bags must also be furnished him, and money to 
transport to the shipping port. 

Such are a part of the obstacles to be overcome 
in purchasing coffee in that country, which makes 
it a hazardous business for a foreigner. 



CHAPTER XII. 

CHARACTER AND CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLE. 

The population of Guatemala is given as one 
million four hundred thousand, but the census is 
not very exact, and probably there are a million 
and a half of people. Of these nearly a million 
(950,000) are Indians, three hundred thousand 
"ladinos," and about one hundred and eighty thou- 
sand whites, including Spaniards and foreigners. 

The characteristics of the Indians have already 
been described, but we wish to add something 
about their origin. There are twenty different 
tribes, each with its own language ; but all save 
three or four belong to the same family, the gen- 
eral name of the Indians of Guatemala being that 
of "Quiche." 

They trace their origin through a long line of 

kings back to the ancient Toltecs, who formerly 

inhabited Mexico, the majority of whom were 

driven out by the coming of the Aztecs in the 

170 



AZTEC AND TOLTEC. I /I 

eleventh century. These Toltecs are supposed to 
have been the most superior race of Indians that 
ever inhabited this continent. They possessed a 
wonderful civilization, and all the finest architec- 
tural remains and ruins in the country (those of 
Yucatan and some parts of Mexico) are attributed 
to this race. When the Aztecs came, the Toltecs, 
not being a warlike people, offered no resistance, 
but some of them moved further south, while a part 
remained, became amalgamated with the Aztecs, 
and taught them their wonderful civilization — that 
civilization which so astonished Cortez and his 
army when they entered Mexico, and remains of 
which are still to be seen in the city at this day. 
Unlike the Aztecs, their history is not stained by 
the offerings of human sacrifice on the altars of 
their gods, nor by the horrible practice of canni- 
balism. To the traveller it is most interesting 
to note how the present Indian tribes and the 
other inhabitants of Guatemala differ from those 
of Mexico. But of this we shall speak later 
on. Morelet, the naturalist, who has given 
greatest study to these " Quiche " Indians, de- 
scribes them as " an active, courageous race, 
whose heads never grow gray, persevering in 



172 CONDITION OF THE INDIANS, 

their industry, skilful in almost every depart- 
ment of art, good workers in iron and the 
precious metals, generally well dressed, neat in 
person, with a firm step and independent bear- 
ing, and altogether constituting a class of citi- 
zens who only require to be better educated to 
rise equal to the best." 

Their condition has already been shown. It 
seemed to us, as near as we could determine, very 
much like that of the serfs in the old feudal 
system. We were told that if a man bought a 
piece of ground the Indians on that land were 
bound to work for him. Roads are built and re- 
paired, aqueducts made, and the government coffee 
plantations all carried on by "forced labor," the 
poor Indians working without a cent of pay. As 
we have shown, they do the hardest work for 
the smallest pay, and have but few rights. They 
have the power to choose, subject to the approval 
of the "Jefe," one of their number as ''alcalde," 
a sort of judge, to whom they appeal for protec- 
tion and justice. This is their only voice in the 
government. 

The "ladinos," especially the lower class, are 
inferior to the Indians in cleanliness, honesty, and 



PICTURESQUE COSTUMES. 1/3 

industry. Still, they regard themselves as infi- 
nitely superior, and treat the Indians with great 
contempt. 

The dress of the people is characteristic. That 
of the Indians has been described. In and about 
the capital it is somewhat different from that of 
the interior, in that the women, instead of wear- 
ing a loose skirt, take a straight piece of cloth 
and wind it tightly about them, with an awkward 
effect. One tribe near Antigua dresses in black. 
The women of the lower class wear an embroid- 
ered chemise, a full skirt, and a bright colored 
" rebosa " (a single shawl), over the shoulders 
and head, as they never wear hats. Of the 
higher classes, the wealthiest have adopted the 
European dress ; and often the costumes are im- 
ported from Paris, and are very elegant. Very 
few use hats, but they wear very gracefully the 
Spanish mantilla upon their heads, and the black 
shawl of fine texture over the shoulders. It is 
said that ''when the ladies put on hats they leave 
off smoking." These varied costumes, so different 
from ours, make the streets a gay and novel scene 
to the traveller. 

All the people, whether of Spanish or mixed 



1/4 WOMAIsr IN- GUATEMALAN SOCIETY. 

blood, are truly Spanish in their customs and 
manner of life. 

Boys and girls are placed in separate schools, 
even in their youngest years, and girls are most 
carefully watched and secluded. The streets are 
full of Indian women, but one sees very few of the 
higher classes, and this was so noticeable that we 
asked, " Where are the ladies of Guatemala ? " 
and received the answer, "In their houses." It is 
contrary to custom and all rules of etiquette for a 
lady to go on the street alone, even in the day- 
time. She must be attended by a servant or 
another companion, and it is improper for ladies, 
even in groups of two or three, to be out after dark 
unattended by a servant. Ladies and gentlemen 
never walk together on the street unless married. 

An American girl does not half appreciate her 
freedom and independence until she goes to one of 
these countries. Indeed, the American and Ger- 
man ladies have Yound these customs so tiresome 
and disagreeable that they have rather broken over 
them, and now if a stranger walks the street un- 
attended she is forgiven by the people, who have 
learned that the customs of other nations are 
different from their own. 



L VE-MAKING. I / 5 

The young ladies being kept so secluded by the 
Spanish custom, love-making must necessarily 
conform to circumstances ; and the suitor, since 
he is not allowed admission into the presence of 
his inamorata, frequents the pavement in front 
of her house, and gazes up at her balcony, where 
she sits ensconced behind the bars. This per- 
formance is called in Mexico " hacer el oso" (play- 
ing the bear), and in Spain "pelando la pava" 
(plucking the turkey). It is often continued for 
months, and even years, without success, the 
result depending upon the will of the parents, 
who, after a time, make inquiries into the young 
man's prospects, and, if the results are satisfac- 
tory, invite him into the house, although they 
never allow him to see the young lady alone. 

Naturally, the young people make the most of 
every meeting at the theatre, opera, and Plaza, 
where, by motions and glances, they carry on most 
extensive and ridiculous ''flirtations." The Mex- 
icans especially, as every traveller will observe, 
indulge in this folly to the greatest degree. 

Spanish gentlemen consider it complimentary to 
stare at a lady, and will even put their heads into 
a carriage where one is sitting, and gaze at her 



1/6 EMBARRASSING ADMIRATION. 

steadily for several minutes. American ladies of 
blond complexion travelling in these countries get 
so much admiration of this nature that it is ex- 
ceedingly disagreeable, and even painful. Blue 
eyes and light hair are so rare that they are 
greatly admired, and boys will often stand and 
look up into a lady's face for some time, and 
pour forth a constant stream of compliments, 
which, if she understands Spanish, is truly over- 
powering. 

These customs strike an American as very 
peculiar, and make him exclaim, " Consistency, 
thou art a jewel," for there is a great show of 
virtue and little of the reality. The whole Spanish 
system of society gives plainest evidence of its 
falsity, and the fact that it defeats its own pur- 
pose. The words of Lara, in '' The Spanish Stu- 
dent," regarding the lack of virtue among Spanish 
women, are often repeated in Guatemala and 
Mexico. 

That the moral state of society is low, there can 
be no doubt. Most deplorable of all is the exis- 
tence of evils similar to those in the South during 
the times of slavery. That the Indian women are 
not lacking in virtue, however, is proved by the 



GAMBLING AND DRINKING. 177 

fact that many beautiful Indian maidens appeal to 
their *'Jefe" for the protection of the law against 
the wealthy planters. 

Gambling and drinking, especially the former, 
are carried to excess. We saw much less drunk- 
enness in all the time we were away than can be 
seen in one week in the city of Boston. But 
gambling exists to an alarming extent, although 
no more among the natives than among the for- 
eign population. Poker is the favorite game ; 
playing cards without money is never thought of ; 
whist parties, composed of both ladies and gentle- 
men, meet regularly Sunday nights to play ''con 
dinero " (for money). 

In Guatemala, as in all these countries, Sunday 
is the great holiday. The market is then most 
crowded ; the stores most largely patronized ; the 
best plays are presented at the Opera ; and the bull 
fight occurs. There are very few, even among 
the Americans, who observe the Sabbath after 
they have been there a while. 

It is surprising how soon Germans and Ameri- 
cans fall into the ways of the country, giving 
as their excuse a phrase we heard until we were 
heartily disgusted, *' Hay la costumbre en Centre 



17^ A HOPELESS FEATURE OF SOCIETY. 

America" ("It is the custom in Central America"), 
as if with a change of climate it were necessary 
to change one's sense of propriety, and even one's 
ideas of right and wrong. 

The prevalence of smoking has been alluded to. 
It sounds rather peculiar, but is no uncommon 
question to ask a lady if she smokes, and many 
foreign ladies, both young and old, adopt the prac- 
tice, although we are happy to say we saw no 
American ladies who smoked. 

One of the most hopeless features in regard 
to the state of society there is this lack of 
a sense of responsibility on the part of foreign- 
ers, both Americans and Germans. They are 
a superior race, who have had better advan- 
tages, and are so looked upon by the people ; 
but instead of doing anything to elevate the 
country, the majority of them simply adopt its 
vices and then condemn the people for the same 
sins. 

Our personal experience with the people was so 
pleasant that we dislike to think at all of their 
faults. We met many truly good people, whose 
kindness impressed us more than the wickedness 
of the greater number, and makes us feel well 



AN UNFLATTERING PICTURE. 1/9 

disposed toward the whole. Travel across the 
country as we did, and partake of their hospitality, 
and remember their origin and history, and you 
will love them in spite of their wickedness. But 
if you want to be convinced of the doctrine of 
total depravity, get some of the foreign residents 
of Guatemala to talking about the natives. They 
will grant them no excellences whatever. They 
will tell you the people are false, deceitful, treach- 
erous, and desperately wicked ; that they are 
polite and say kind things without meaning a 
word of it, simply to flatter you and make you 
pleased with yourself and them ; and that they 
never do a kindness save from a selfish motive. 
We could not believe this, and on mentioning one 
and another, even all of the natives with whom we 
had any dealings, we were always assured that 
these were indeed most excellent and thoroughly 
good men. Was it, then, that we met only excep- 
tions .? If so, we are glad, and we know at least 
there were some as good and true as live in any 
part of the world. 

Two characteristics of the people (most trying 
to all who deal with them) are certainly to be con- 
demned. These are their indolence and dilatori- 



l80 THE OTHER SIDE. 

ness. They are slow and lazy, as a rule, and will 
never do to-day what can be put off until to- 
morrow. They lack the energy and enterprise 
so characteristic of Americans. But then, again, 
we could well learn from them both patience and 
amiability. They did seem the most patient, 
amiable people in the world. We never saw a 
person among them in an ill humor, never heard 
any cross words, or witnessed a single quarrel. 
Americans might learn much, too, from this sim- 
ple, warm-hearted people in politeness, courtesy, 
and hospitality, for as compared with them we are 
cold, stiff, formal, and selfish. 

They have many little expressions of salutation 
and leave-taking, and forms of compliment, which 
have no equivalents in English, but which are 
very pretty and very pleasing to the traveller who 
knows a little of the language. You can but feel 
more kindly disposed toward the bright, black- 
eyed young fellow who takes care of your room, 
when he greets you every morning in a pleas- 
ant way with ''buenos dias," and on bringing 
you your candle at night says, ''duerme bien" 
("sleep well"), or "pasa buena noche"; and you 
cannot feel half as irritated over a poor bargain 



A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HISTORY. l8l 

at one of the stores when the clerk politely bows 
you out with an " adios." 

If Spanish politeness is false and hollow we did 
not find it out. If kind words were said without 
meaning, simply to make us pleased with the 
speaker, the result was surely accomplished, and 
we felt more kindly disposed toward the whole of 
Guatemala for the pleasant words spoken in that 
musical language. Many acts of real kindness and 
self-sacrifice we know were extended us from the 
pure good will of the people ; if any were done 
from a selfish motive, it is no more than we meet 
with every day at home. From our personal 
experience with the people from first to last, we 
can but speak with affection and gratitude of all. 

The history of Guatemala may be given in a 
few words. Conquered in 1524 by the Spaniards, 
it was under their rule until 1821, when it threw 
off the yoke ; and now it celebrates that occasion 
on September 15 of every year, as we do the 4th 
of July. It was then annexed to the Mexican 
empire under Iturbide, but in 1823 became a part 
of the Central American Federal Republic. This 
union did not last very long, and Guatemala, after 
being conquered by San Salvador, finally defeated 



1 82 RECENT EVENTS. 

the Hondurians and Salvadorians, and established 
its independence under Carrera in 185 1. Since 
then its development has been retarded by petty 
wars, by the destruction of many villages and 
cities by earthquake, and by revolutions. The 
Liberal party came into power in 1870. The 
archbishop and the Jesuits were driven into exile, 
and when Barrios became President, in 1872, the 
order was declared extinct and its property con- 
fiscated. His work has already been described. 
Barillas succeeded him as President. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

GUATEMALA TO PANAMA. 

The area of Guatemala is estimated at from forty 
to over fifty thousand square miles. An accurate 
statement is impossible, because the boundaries 
are not settled and surveys are few and imperfect. 
It is divided into twenty departments, each of 
which has a "jefe politico" (governor). 

Its mountainous character has already many 
times been mentioned. The range is a part of 
the Andes and affords magnificent and varied 
scenery, being always clad in verdure, and having 
beautiful terraces, many mountain streams and 
waterfalls, enormous ravines and precipices of the 
wildest description. The number of volcanoes is 
very great, estimated at thirty-one, of which at 
least five are active. The most famous and high- 
est, Agua, fourteen thousand feet high, one of 
the most beautiful cones in the world, has already 
been described. 

183 



184 RICH RESOURCES. 

So much of the land being elevated, the climate 
is very agreeable and healthful, save in the hot, 
moist coast-lands, where malaria lurks and seizes 
every visitor who lingers. 

Guatemala is very rich in resources, which as 
yet have been very little developed. Many of 
the strata are metalliferous, though few mines 
are worked. Silver, lead, coal, and marble are 
found, and the Spaniards obtained, during their 
rule, forty million pesos (dollars) of silver in 
Chiquimula, where mines are still worked, though 
with poorer results. 

Many valuable woods are found, there being 
upwards of one hundred kinds of timber trees. 
The other chief products are coffee, — now the 
most important, gradually superseding that of 
cochineal, formerly the greatest product, — maize, 
frijoles, rice, wheat, indigo, cocoa, sarsaparilla, 
tobacco, sugar, vanilla, chili, and many fruits. 
The great need is capitalists to develop the 
country and make use of its wonderful natu- 
ral advantages and resources. Those who have 
already come are principally Germans, and that 
they are making money there is no doubt. 

The lack of facilities for travelling is the first 



NEED OF RAILROADS. 1 85 

great obstacle to be overcome in the development 
of the country. 

We heard of but two railroads, that from Guate- 
mala City to San Jose, a distance of ninety miles ; 
and one from Champerico a short distance into the 
interior. The roads are mostly narrow paths, very 
few suitable for carriages, very bad even in the 
dry season, and in the rainy, almost impassable. 
Bridges are few, and generally in poor condition. 
But there is steady advance in this direction ; 
much was done during Barrios' administration. 
It must be remembered there are many obstacles 
to overcome, the great mountains and huge 
ravines. It seemed to us, as we traversed the 
mountains in the last of the way to Guatemala, 
that it would never be possible to have anything 
but that narrow path ; still, afterward, when we 
saw what engineering had accomplished from 
Vera Cruz to Mexico, it seemed that a railroad 
might be possible even here. Should there ever 
be one from Panzos to Guatemala City by the 
route which we took, a most wonderful and beau- 
tiful journey would be open to the tourist. There 
could hardly be a more interesting trip to one liking 
to depart frt)m the great highways of travel and see 



1 86 GOOD-BYE TO GUATEMALA. 

man in his primitive condition and nature in her 
own magnificence and beauty ; but at present the 
hardships to be endured will prevent all, save a 
very few, from ever going, and will detract from 
the pleasure of those who have the courage to 
venture. 

Having passed two weeks in the capital very 
pleasantly, we were ready to continue our journey. 
From here only ninety miles remained to com- 
plete the trip across the entire republic of Guate- 
mala, from the Atlantic to the Pacific side, and 
this last portion, much to our relief, we were 
enabled to accomplish by rail. 

The morning of our departure many of the 
friends we had made during our stay were at the 
station to see us off, and it was with real regret 
that we parted with them and with the city, 
where we had spent many pleasant days. 

The train started at 8 A. m., reaching San Jose 
at about 2 p. m. The road is descending all the 
way from the elevation of Guatemala, over four 
thousand feet, to the level of the sea, and the 
grade is so steep that for most of the way no 
power is used and even then it is necessary to put 
on the brakes. The ride is for the most part 



SAN JOSE. 187 

uninteresting, relieved only by the views of the 
mountains and the beautiful Lake Amatitlan, and 
by crowds gathered at every station, the ever- 
interesting Indians selling fruits and *'dulce" 
(sweets). As we came down from the height 
we suffered exceedingly from the heat and dust, 
which made the journey so unpleasant that we 
began to think it was not possible to travel com- 
fortably, under any circumstances, in this country. 
Here we had occasion to observe another Spanish 
custom, that of the gentlemen all smoking in the 
cars in the presence of the ladies, there being no 
smoking-car on the train. 

The port of San Jose is the usual small Indian 
town. The Pacific Mail Steamship Company has 
an agent living there, an American, with whom 
we had previously become acquainted, and at 
whose house we spent a few hours before taking 
the steamer. There is no harbor at San Jose ; it 
is simply a " roadstead." Indeed this coast is 
notable for its lack of harbors, and is regarded 
by navigators as very dangerous. The mighty 
ocean has full sweep and offers one of the grand- 
est exhibitions of its power in the raging tumultu- 
ous surf with which it breaks upon the shore. 



l88 TREMENDOUS SURF, 

There is nothing at any of our beaches at all com- 
parable with the tremendous surf we saw at San 
Jose. Huge waves, mountains high, white and 
foaming, broke on the beach with a deafening roar 
and such awful power and fury as to make one 
shrink from the thought of launching upon its 
waters. A long iron pier has been built far out 
into the water beyond the greatest force of the 
breakers, but steamers are not able to come even 
to the end of that, and are obliged to anchor two 
miles from shore. Landing passengers over such 
a raging sea is both difficult and dangerous, and 
sometimes in a storm the water is so rough that 
steamers refuse to receive or land passengers, and 
oblige those on board to go on to the end of the 
voyage, and take their chances of landing on the 
return trip. 

Soon after our arrival in San Jose, the captain 
of the steamer on which we were to sail sent word 
for passengers to come on board early, as the sea 
was very rough that afternoon. Before we reached 
the steamer we had to undergo a series of novel 
experiences ; novel even to us, after all we had 
passed through. On the pier we were beset by a 
numerous crowd of boys claiming a '' real " apiece 



FLEECING. 189 

for bringing our baggage from the cars to the 
pier. After we had paid more boys than we had 
pieces of baggage, they still kept appearing, each 
claiming he had carried this or that, and all look- 
ing so much alike, with their dark faces, that it was 
impossible for us to recognize the ones we had 
engaged. We were disposing of our last '^reales," 
and all the small boys in San Jose were getting 
rich, when the agent's wife, well acquainted with 
these urchins, interposed in our behalf and sent 
them off. Then our baggage was weighed and 
we were charged the exorbitant sum of five dol- 
lars and fifty cents for the privilege of crossing 
the iron pier. 

The next performance was as unique as it was 
unpleasant. At the end of the pier was a large 
iron cage attached to a system of pulleys. In 
this cage the passengers, five or six at a time, 
were let down from the pier into a large flat-bot- 
tomed boat loaded with coffee. I must say I 
shrank from the transit, and we waited to be the 
last. As soon as we were fairly seated and had 
grasped the iron bars, the machinery moved with 
a dismal grating sound, the men on the pier gave 
the cage a push and down it went into the bobbing 



190 TOSSED BY THE BILLOWS. 

boat below. The process of being lowered was 
quite a quick one, but the sensation when the 
cage was swung off the wharf, out over the raging 
sea, was not at all pleasant. The launch into 
which we were lowered was rocking so that we 
had to make great haste to be seated, and were 
glad to cling to the baggage so as not to fall over- 
board. In this coffee launch, with the rays of the 
hot sun pouring down upon our heads, we were 
obliged to sit, tossed up and down by the billows, 
until a tugboat came and towed us out to the 
steamer. The poor tug had a hard struggle with 
the foaming billows, and was tossed about like a 
chip, sometimes riding the crest of a great wave, 
and then entirely disappearing in the trough of 
the sea. It went first to the right, then to the 
left, and staggered like a drunken man, but 
finally brought us safely to the steamer. Even at 
this distance from shore, where the steamer was 
anchored, the waves were too rough for it to be 
safe for passengers to mount the steps ; so a barrel 
was lowered into the launch, and in this, one at a 
time, we were pulled up into the steamer. 

Once on board and fairly out of Guatemala, we 
felt the truth of Mrs. Stowe's saying, ** The plea- 



A BITTER-SWEET EXPERIENCE IQI 

sure in travelling is to have travelled," and now, 
while we think of that country with affectionate 
interest, we can but say our pleasure in seeing 
Guatemala is to have seen it ; and, should we ever 
go there again, we should take the Pacific Mail 
from New York and content ourselves with a visit 
to the capital and vicinity, the most interesting 
part of the republic. 

The journey across the country, with all its 
strange, odd, and interesting experiences, will live 
always in our memory, and form part of our wak- 
ing and sleeping dreams. It was a mixture of 
bitter and sweet, of which the former impressed 
us most then, the latter now. It is an experience 
we would not part with for " the wealth of 
Ormus or of Ind." It is one we would not repeat 
for twice that sum. 

The steamer Sait Jose, on which we were em- 
barked, was one of the Pacific Mail Line, sailing 
from San Francisco to the Isthmus. It was a fine 
large steamer, perfect in every respect, and we 
fully appreciated its excellences. 

There were not many passengers, and very few 
who spoke English. I was the only lady. Two of 
the passengers in particular attracted our atten- 



192 TWO FIGURES. 

tion, a French priest, and his companion and 
servant, a young boy of Guatemala. The priest 
was a queer, wiry, sharp-featured man who was 
bound to be first in everything. He was just 
ahead of us in buying his ticket, and we had to 
wait a good part of half an hour while he counted 
out his fare and the boy's in "real" (i2>^-cent) 
pieces. When we were about to get on to the 
steamer from the launch, he pressed forward in 
eagerness to be ahead. The captain shouted, 
"Let the lady come first"; but he didn't under- 
stand English, and jumped into the barrel as soon 
as it was lowered. For some reason he was very 
anxious to make the acquaintance of my father, 
and would obtain a few English words from a Ger- 
man who talked with him, that he might be able 
to make a little conversation. That he was sincere 
in his calling we could not doubt, and for that 
respected him. He read his prayer-book hour 
after hour, and was most faithful in his devotions. 
The boy who attended him was, like most of the 
boys of Guatemala, very interesting, with the char- 
acteristic traits of the people, bright, quiet, docile, 
and very devoted to the old priest, who kept him 
studying French and the prayer-book all day. 



BLISSFUL IGNORANCE. 193 

This boy's ignorance of the world was surpris- 
ing, as we chanced to find out ; for, while the 
priest was once absent a few minutes, we took oc- 
casion to try to divert him with papers and books. 
He was pleased with the pictures, but regarded 
them in a very different light from what we ex- 
pected; for on seeing a picture of Lydia Pinkham 
he looked very reverent, and asked if it was 
not sacred. To him pictures of women were 
representations of saints and angels to be wor- 
shipped, and he will never know they can repre- 
sent simply inventors of patent medicines. 

We sailed in the evening, and one night brought 
us to La Libertad, a port of San Salvador. Here 
the steamer stopped all day loading coffee, and it 
was very hot. 

The next day we were in sight of three repub- 
lics, San Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. 
All along this coast there are volcanoes ; one 
in San Salvador, named Izalco, has an eruption 
every fifteen minutes. 

The water was smooth and beautiful all day; and 
it was delightful sailing, except for the heat, which 
was the greatest we had yet experienced. That 
night there was a "norther," and the wind howled 



194 A ''NORTHERr 

furiously and the great ship rocked and creaked 
fearfully for a few hours. These "northers " blow 
several months during the year, and are the great 
dread of all navigators ; not that they are really 
so dangerous if the ship is kept out from the land, 
but the wind is so cold as to almost chill the blood 
in one's veins, and so powerful that the ship can 
make scarcely an inch of progress, and is only 
tossed about at the mercy of the gale in a vain 
battle against wind and wave. 

The next day the ocean was as smooth as a 
lake ; we passed Costa Rica, and were near land. 
We had a most gorgeous sunset, and a full moon 
at night ; besides, the water was all aglow with 
brilliant phosphorescence, which looked like great 
fiery serpents playing about the steamer. 

Wednesday we sailed south of the Isthmus, 
along the mountainous shore of Colombia ; for in 
order to get into the Bay of Panama it is neces- 
sary to go several hundred miles along the coast 
of South America. It was a lonely, mountainous, 
rocky shore, though rather strange and interest- 
ing. 

Thursday, at 9 a.m., we were in the Bay of Pan- 
ama and at the end of our voyage, but had to 



THE ''PEACEFUL'' OCEAN. 195 

wait until afternoon for a tug to come after us and 
take us ashore. The bay is very pretty and con- 
tained much shipping; there were many dredgers 
at- work, dredging for De Lesseps' canal. 

Our whole voyage had been the perfection of 
sailing. The Pacific had demonstrated the appro- 
priateness of its name, " peaceful," and had been 
as smooth as possible on the whole passage, save 
the one night of the "norther." The weather was 
perfect, we had most brilliant sunsets, and a full 
inoon every night ; hence the Pacific Ocean will 
Always be associated most pleasantly in our minds. 
The steamer was a fine one, the fare good, and 
the captain a pleasant, dignified gentleman and 
an agreeable companion. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PANAMA, ASPINWALL, AND THE ISTHMUS. 

After leaving Guatemala, our plan was to visit 
Punta Arenas, in Costa Rica, where my father 
wished to inspect the coffee crop ; from there we 
purposed to go to the Isthmus, and thence to Vera 
Cruz, by the first route which should present itself. 

As it happened, the Sa7i Jose did not stop at 
Punta Arenas, as we had at first expected. This, 
however, was no great disappointment to us, for 
we knew exactly what the place must be — a 
hot, unhealthy Indian town, where we might be 
obliged to stay several weeks before getting pas- 
sage in any steamer. But coffee was the one 
great object of this journey; my father's zeal was 
so great (and mine had become as great as his), 
that we should have endured without complaining 
all the discomforts of this coast town, had we 
been obliged to stop there. 

On arriving at the Isthmus, we were greatly 
rejoiced to learn that a steamer was advertised to 
196 



THE HAND OF PROVIDENCE, 1 9/ 

sail the next day from Aspinwall, the other side of 
the Isthmus, to New Orleans. From the accounts 
we heard of the unhealthiness of the Isthmus 
we 'were anxious to get away from it as soon as 
possible, and that we should thus arrive just in 
time for the steamer was, as we afterward found, 
a matter of the greatest good fortune. 

Surely the hand of Providence guided us all the 
way through this journey, and made "all things 
work together for good." The manner in which 
we had made connections, in a country where trav- 
ellers are often delayed weeks, and even months, 
was truly wonderful. From the time we left New 
Orleans, we had not been able to plan definitely 
any further than from one point to another, yet we 
had spent just the amount of time we wished in 
each place, and had experienced but few and short 
delays. Every one who knew of our journey across 
Guatemala said it had been accomplished with an 
expedition unprecedented. Then, to crown all, 
we were not obliged to linger in the unhealthy 
Isthmus, a possibility we had feared. 

The unhealthiness of the Isthmus can scarcely 
be exaggerated. The yellow and the Chagres 
fevers reign supreme; men die like dogs in the 



19^ AN UNHEALTHY CLIMATE. 

street, and no attention is paid to them. Trav- 
ellers have been known to go on shore in per- 
fect health and die before the next morning. We 
were told that any day one could see fifty fresh 
graves in the cemetery. 

The place was full of Frenchmen, engaged in 
the work of the canal, and this addition to the 
population greatly increased the unhealthiness. 
There is no attention whatever paid to drainage, 
neither are there any sanitary regulations. When 
the tide is out the hot sun beats down on the flats, 
and a miasma like a cloud rises, bringing malaria 
and death. 

Passengers on the Pacific Mail steamers are not 
allowed to go on shore even for a night, but are 
always kept on board until the steamer is ready to 
sail from the other side of the Isthmus, no matter 
how long that may be. 

As our steamer was advertised to sail at noon 
the next day, we were obliged to spend one night 
on shore, and were strongly advised to stay in 
Panama as preferable to Aspinwall. 

We arrived in the bay in the morning; but, as 
before stated, the steamer was obliged to anchor 
out frora land, and we had to wait until afternoon 



A WRETCHED NIGHT. 199 

for the tug to take us over to Panama. We found 
it a most wretched place. The streets were nar- 
row ; the houses were old and dilapidated ; and 
the air was hot, and laden with disease. 

We went at once to the "Grand Central" ho- 
tel, the best in the place — a new building, but 
already beginning to look old, for the climate 
in a short time ruins everything. It was situated 
on one side of the Plaza, opposite an old crum- 
bling cathedral. There was a most terrible odor 
pervading the whole house, exactly like that of 
a decaying corpse, and very likely it was ; for next 
morning we read in one of the papers of a half- 
decomposed dead body being found under one of 
the hotels. We could neither eat nor sleep, and 
felt as if in a charnel-house. 

After passing a wretched night, we took the 
train at seven o'clock in the morning to cross 
the Isthmus. It is only a three hours' ride, 
but the fare is twenty-five dollars in American 
gold ; that is, for a foreigner, — a native goes for 
ten dollars. 

There was no place we ever found that was such 
a perfect Jew shop as the Isthmus. If one escapes 
the fever and ague, the people do their best to get 



200 CROSSING THE ISTHMUS. 

all his money away from him. We had been 
warned of this, and instructed by the captain what 
prices to pay, but could never seem to carry out 
our friend's advice. For instance, he told us just 
what sum to give for a carriage to take us to the 
train, telling us to ask no questions of the driver, 
but offer him the proper amount without a word. 
We did so, whereupon the fellow demanded more ; 
and when we explained that was the usual fare, he 
had the audacity to tell us that we had to pay 
more because we were Americans. 

The ride across the Isthmus disclosed to us 
a miserable country, — hot, swampy, unhealthy. 
There were frequent stations, but they were only 
wretched little negro villages, and all along the 
way were numerous graveyards and fresh graves ; 
for the soil, composed of decaying vegetation, 
breathes out death as soon as overturned by the 
spade. 

In building the railroad, it has been said that 
every sleeper cost a man's life ; and without doubt 
as many if not more lives will be sacrificed in the 
digging of the canal. 

Everywhere work on the canal was visible ; but 
there seemed little connection between the differ- 



COLON, 201 

ent portions of the work, and nothing like more 
than a mere beginning. We were told by one of 
the engineers that so far only the " installation " 
was done, only ten million of the required two 
hundred and fifty million cubic metres of earth 
had yet been removed. The undertaking is a 
vast one, far exceeding that of the Suez canal, 
and every one there believed it would not be 
finished for many years. 

At ten o'clock we arrived in Aspinwall, or, as it 
is always called there, Colon, this being the 
real name of the place, given by the people in 
honor of Columbus ; Aspinwall is the name 
given by the Americans, but is not used on 
the Isthmus. 

It is quite impossible to say which place is the 
worse. Colon or Panama. Everybody in Panama 
said, " It is not healthy here, to be sure, but not 
nearly as bad as Colon " ; and in Colon they all 
said, " It is much healthier here than in Panama." 
From our own experience we concluded that both 
places were as bad as they could be. 

One cause for the great mortality in both places 
is the excessive intemperance. Nowhere is tem- 
perance more necessary, and nowhere is it prac- 



202 DRINK AND THE FEVER, 

tised less. There is great mortality among the 
French, because they indulge so freely in wine. 
Sailors drink as soon as they get on shore, and 
consequently many of them die before they ever 
get back to the ship. Many of the Americans 
coming here start for a saloon as soon as they 
land, almost invariably come down with yellow 
fever, and frequently die in a few hours. A 
native of South America — like all these people, 
far from a total abstainer — added his testimony to 
the necessity of temperance in these countries 
where there is yellow fever. He said if any one 
would be strictly temperate he could with per- 
fect safety go through a place where an epidemic 
of yellow fever was raging, and that he himself 
never took the least quantity of intoxicating 
drinks when in a region where the disease was 
prevailing. 

We found Colon a most wretched place ; hot, 
dirty, and producing the same ghastly impres- 
sion as did Panama. The railway station in 
which we were obliged to wait, was merely a 
baggage-room, without a single chair, and was 
full of Jamaica negroes, as rough and lawless a 
set of beings as can be found. 



DEATH IN THE AIR. 203 

Supposing we had but two hours before the 
saiUng of the steamer, we hastened to make the 
necessary arrangements, but were greatly per- 
plexed in not being able to find any one with 
whom we needed to confer, as they were all sick 
with chills and fever. The steamer was not in 
dock ; the agent not to be found ; and the 
American consul, who had letters for us, was 
likewise missing. We met with obstacles every- 
where, and had infinite trouble. 

Furthermore, as we learned afterwards, the 
place was in such a turbulent state from a rebel- 
lion which was just beginning, that it was not 
safe to be on the streets, and our lives were in 
constant danger. 

Finally, we learned that the steamer would not 
be ready to sail for a day or two, but that all 
the passages were even then engaged. The 
prospect was most disheartening, for the thought 
of staying on shore another night at one of the 
hotels was appalling. There was a feeling of 
death and danger in the very atmosphere; and 
although I was perfectly well, and had no fear 
for myself, I was alarmed for my father, for he 
had been very ill three days in our voyage on 



204 TEMPTED TO RETREAT 

the Pacific, and the night before, in Panama, had 
been very sick again. 

We both began to feel very discouraged. We 
had slept in mud huts, in the open air, lived on 
Indian fare, and encountered many hardships 
cheerfully ; but now for the first and only time 
(although neither of us acknowledged it until we 
got home) we felt like giving up, and almost 
wished we had never undertaken this journey. 

Finally we decided to get our baggage down 
to the wharf, and see if we could not get on 
board the steamer, for once on the water we 
should feel perfectly safe. As we walked through 
the wretched streets to the wharf, I thought of 
the fine Pacific Mail steamer to sail that night 
for New York, and said : — 

" Father, let us take the Pacific Mail steamer 
and go home." 

" Do you want to give up Mexico t " he an- 
swered ; and, perceiving by a few words that he 
was firm, I said no more. 

We reached the wharf just as the steamer 
came into dock. My father, in his eagerness, 
climbed over a big post, with more agility than 
I could have supposed possible, and was on board 



THE ELOQUENCE OF DESPAIR. 205 

the steamer before she had fairly landed. As I 
anxiously awaited the result, the words I heard 
from the captain sounded like a knell : — 

*'A11 first-class passages engaged. Your bag- 
gage can be put on, but we are not ready for 
passengers until to-morrow." 

But, feeling that this was our only refuge, my 
father used all the persuasion and eloquence of 
which he was capable, to induce the captain to 
take us. He was reluctant to do so, because he 
had not suitable accommodations for us ; but my 
father declared we would eat anything, and sleep 
on deck if necessary. Finally he said : — 

" There stands my daughter on the wharf, and 
I believe we shall both die before morning if we 
have to stay on shore." 

This appeal was effective, and the captain con- 
sented to take us, saying : — 

"You may come on board as soon as the 
plank is put out." 

We were not long in getting ourselves and 
baggage on to that steamer ; and when we had 
our chairs placed on deck, we felt quite content, 
not caring whether we had a place to sleep, or 
anything to eat, so long as we were out of Colon. 



206 A FIERY FURNACE. 

Our experience in the Isthmus was certainly 
the most dangerous and trying one we had. I 
felt, as I sat on the deck of the steamer, like 
one who had passed through a fiery furnace 
unscathed. The words of the ninety-first Psalm, 
in this, as in all the other trying moments of the 
journey, were a veritable reality: — 

"A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten 
thousand at thy right hand ; but it shall not 
come nigh thee." 



CHAPTER XV. 

VOYAGE IN AN ENGLISH STEAMER. 

The steamer in which we were to take our 
second passage across the Gulf was an English 
steamer from Liverpool — the Legislator, of the 
Harrison line — very large, and carrying much 
freight, but with accommodations for only a lim- 
ited number of passengers. 

As the steamer could not sail for a day or 
two, we were the only passengers on board. 
That night we dined with the purser and the 
first and second officers, who were very pleasant 
and agreeable, and excited our wonder and ad- 
miration to think they could laugh and joke 
while anchored at Colon. 

After dinner we had a conversation with the 
captain, whom we found to be a most intellec- 
tual, cultured, kind and thoughtful gentleman, with 
much of the humorous element, which made him 
a still more agreeable companion. From hirn we 

207 



208 A LAWLESS STATE OF AFFAIRS. 

learned more of the wretched condition of Colon, 
and of the many annoyances suffered there by 
himself and officers. They had been waiting two 
days to get into dock, their berth being occupied 
by a French steamer, and had yet all their cargo 
to discharge, although it was then the day for them 
to sail. They had brought a company of fifty 
soldiers to aid the government in the rebellion. 
These soldiers had nearly exhausted their supply 
of provisions, and it was almost impossible to 
obtain anything eatable in Colon. The captain 
himself was just recovering from a severe illness 
occasioned by being on shore but a few hours 
to transact necessary business. 

We began to realize then how great an act of 
kindness had been done in taking us on board, 
and felt most truly grateful. The captain's ex- 
perience in getting a doctor very well illustrates 
the lawless and dangerous state of affairs then 
existing. Being alarmed at his condition, two of 
his officers went on shore for a physician, but 
had not proceeded far when they were arrested, 
and they were only saved from imprisonment by 
presenting a letter showing that the steamer had 
just brought soldiers to aid the government, and 



A JOYI'UL DEPARTURE. 20g 

was therefore entitled to protection. After fur- 
ther trouble a doctor was found, but he abso- 
lutely refused to go without a guard of soldiers to 
conduct him. These were finally obtained, at- 
tended him to the steamer, waited until he had 
seen the captain, and then conducted him back 
again. He considered such precautions abso- 
lutely necessary for the protection of his life. 

It is very dangerous to be in any of these 
countries during a revolution, and we began to 
feel that we had been very fortunate in encoun- 
tering no harm, and in being able thus to escape 
from the country before the worst. What the 
place must have been after the rebellion fairly 
set in, can scarcely be imagined ! We left none 
too soon. 

The second day, Saturday, in the afternoon, 
the steamer sailed, and we never felt so happy 
to leave any place as we did to leave Colon. 
It seemed strange that any one would try to 
live in the Isthmus ; but men will risk their 
lives for the " filthy lucre," and this place offers 
great inducements. 

The passengers were an interesting and a mis- 
cellaneous company. There was one Mexican, 



2IO A MISCELLANEOUS COMPANY. 

several Spaniards, two Frenchmen, three or four 
Americans, and two Venezuelans ; but Spanish 
was the language spoken throughout the voyage. 
The majority of the passengers were from the 
Isthmus, and were thin, yellow, and sickly look- 
ing victims of chills and fever, or half eaten 
up with quinine. They were very wealthy, and 
were going to visit the Exposition, or to travel in 
the United States. 

In about an hour or two after starting, the 
steamer began to pitch some, and, with the excep- 
tion of ourselves and one other passenger, every- 
body on board was sea-sick. Though it was not 
very rough, they were a most dejected company 
for several days, their susceptibility being due, 
without doubt, to the fact that they had been 
living in Colon and had been so long without a 
breath of pure air ; or it also may have been partly 
due to the fact that many of them were Spaniards, 
of whom it is said this liability to sea-sickness is a 
general infirmity. Certainly in this mixed com- 
pany of passengers the natives of Spain seemed to 
suffer the most. 

Among the passengers was the editor of the 
Panama Star and Heraldy an excellent paper, in 



AN ODD LITTLE BABY. 211 

three languages — English, French, and Spanish. 
With him were his wife, baby, and nurse. They 
furnished considerable diversion for all of us, — 
especially the baby, an odd little thing not much 
more than a year old, but very bright and lively. 
She looked like the rest who lived in Colon, and 
reminded one of Victor Hugo's description, ''A bit 
of clay containing a spark," but a bright spark it 
was, and shone merrily out of those little black 
eyes set in the tiny round yellow face. She was 
not sea-sick, and consequently not quiet. She 
went everywhere; and was found sometimes in 
the pantry, sometimes in the kitchen, and even 
once succeeded in confiscating a bunch of raisins ; 
a thing which would have required more skill than 
any adult passenger possessed, for the ship was a 
most intricate place in which to find one's way. 
One night we had a great gale, and the captain, 
coming through the saloon at midnight, found, 
much to his astonishment, this same baby prom- 
enading about all alone. 

Among the passengers was the Dutch consul of 
Panama, the son of the Spanish consul, a wealthy 
Mexican who spent his time in travelling, a very 
interesting young married lady of New Orleans, 



212 ALL ANCHORED ON DECK. 

whose husband, a cultured Englishman, was one 
of the superintendents of the works at the 
Isthmus ; and a brother and sister, natives of 
South America, though the brother was then a 
resident of New York. These two had been 
having a very serious time. They started from 
New York to go to Venezuela, the brother to 
accompany his sister. Arriving at the Isthmus 
they found their country in such a state of revo- 
lution that the port was closed, and they could 
not enter. Then they were obliged to remain 
in the Isthmus some three weeks, until the 
arrival of this steamer, by which they were going 
to New Orleans to wait until a cessation of the 
troubles. 

Such was the miscellaneous company on board, 
and any student of human nature could find ample 
scope for all his powers, and sufficient amusement 
and entertainment from his observations. 

The second day, Sunday, there was even more 
motion than on the first. All the passengers 
were on deck, and, as the captain said, were "all 
anchored," for everybody sat perfectly quiet in an 
easy-chair, a deathly silence reigned all day, not 
a sound was heard or a movement made, save 



A TERRIBLE ''BLOW:' 21 3 

when some poor victim visited the rail and paid 
the necessary "tribute to Neptune." 

The next day was smoother, and some of the 
passengers even ventured to go to the table; but 
in the night there was a gale of wind, and they 
were all sick again. That night was a wretched 
one for us. We tried, with several others, sleep- 
ing on deck in our chairs, thinking it would be 
better than the crowded cabin, but the wind 
howled furiously, making frightful and unearthly 
sounds in the rigging ; the ship rocked terribly, 
and snapped and groaned as if coming to pieces. 
We got but a few snatches of sleep, and that was 
disturbed by nightmares and frightful dreams. 
Next morning we were all a dilapidated looking 
company, and we did not recover from the effects 
of "the blow" until afternoon. 

From that time we had fine weather ; but we 
were constantly haunted by fears of a "norther," 
for at that season a voyage across the Gulf could 
scarcely be made without encountering one. 

Thursday the wind changed and blew warm 
from the south. The sea was as smooth as glass, 
and it was so very warm that even the inhabitants 
of Colon were languishing from the heat. This 



214 WARNINGS OF THE ''NORTHERN 

had a meaning for the captain, and he said : 
"There's a * norther' blowing somewhere; this is 
one of the premonitions, one of its twenty-four- 
hour warnings." And again in the evening he 
said, "We shall get the 'norther' before midnight, 
but are so far up the Gulf, and so under cover of 
land, that its fury will be broken." It was all as he 
had said. The "norther" came at eleven o'clock, 
and with it a thunder shower. There was creaking, 
and cracking, and raging enough ; but the great 
steamer hardly rocked, and rode steadily in spite 
of the elements. There was little sleep for any of 
us, and none at all for the faithful captain. 

It was this night that he found the baby taking 
her solitary promenade in the saloon. 

One very important and most useful member of 
the steamer's crew must not be overlooked. That 
was George, the second steward, a fair-haired 
English boy, of eighteen, whose office it was to 
bring the meals on deck to those unable to appear 
in the dining-room. In fact, he seemed the most 
useful and essential part of the whole ship; for, if 
anything whatsoever was wanted, all we had to do 
was simply to call, " George," and he appeared as 
if by magic to do our bidding. It was a mystery 



TfVO WAIFS. 215 

where his retreat was ; certainly out of sight, but 
not out of hearing. During the " sea-sick " period 
he was in constant demand, and even the baby, 
not a whit behind her elders, learned to go to the 
head of the stairs whence he appeared, and call, 
**Georgie." 

Two other objects of great interest to us were 
the " stowaways," two urchins from the streets of 
Liverpool, who had tucked themselves away so 
carefully in the great ship before she sailed as to 
escape the vigilance of the officers when the 
usual search was made after their kind. They 
were very curious, interesting specimens, with 
such odd faces ! One had a big, round, fat face, 
all out of proportion to the rest of his body ; the 
other had gray hair and a very old face, as the 
captain said, " a face that might have been knock- 
ing about forty years ago, instead of belonging to 
a boy of eleven or twelve." 

When found these boys were set to work for 
their passage, and the little fellows did well. 
They used to bring all the food on to the table 
from the kitchen, and in order to get into the 
dining-room had to come up the stairs on deck, 
where we could see them ; and it was one of the 



2l6 « THE FLOWING BOWL." 

greatest diversions of the voyage to watch them 
as they came up through the hole carrying their 
great platters and covered dishes with ever the 
same unchanging, expressionless faces, like two 
little machines. We could not help wondering 
what their fate would be, thus early cast upon the 
world to make their own way, without help or 
sympathy from any one. Only this was certain : 
no very great or happy lot lay before them. 

One of the chief characteristics of the voyage 
was the frequent appearance of "the flowing 
bowl." On recovering from sea-sickness the 
men resumed their usual custom, and five or six 
times a day passed around champagne, sherry, 
or a "cocktail" of some description. It was 
brought up in a large soup-tureen, poured into 
glasses with a soup-ladle, and served to all on 
deck. 

The entirely different way in which this drink- 
ing was regarded by two of the lady passengers 
furnished an admirable illustration of the in- 
fluence of birth, education, and surroundings, 
upon a person's belief and conduct. One of 
the ladies was a New England girl, brought up 
under the shadow of the Maine law, and a 



TWO SIDES OF THE QUESTION. 21 7 

thorough advocate of its principles. This con- 
stant drinking was to her very painful, and she 
firmly refused every glass, from first to last. 

In direct contrast, as representing the other ex- 
treme of the temperance question, was the young 
lady from South America, a handsome young girl, 
who drank every 'time with the gentlemen, and 
on a plea of sea-sickness called for glasses of 
brandy and water besides. 

Without arguing from effect to cause we can cer- 
tainly conclude the inefficacy of liquors in cases of 
sea-sickness, for the advocate of temperance was 
not sick at all worth mentioning, and was, until 
the very last meals, the only lady at the table, 
while the patron of brandy and water was terribly 
sick the whole passage, and even when the water 
was calm and smooth could by no means be per- 
suaded to leave her reclining-chair, in which she 
sat day and night during the whole voyage. 

It is often said, and generally granted, that in 
travelling in countries where the custom in regard 
to this matter is so different from ours, it is 
absolutely necessary to drink wine. This is not 
true. It is sometimes unpleasant at first to refuse, 
but the one who does conscientiously will never 



2l8 SHERRY IN THE PUDDING-SAUCE. 

regret it, and will lose nothing of the respect and 
esteem of his fellow-men. 

Quite an amusing incident happened at dinner 
one day. We had English plum pudding, and 
the captain ordered some sherry put into the 
sauce ; then happening to look at the New Eng. 
land girl, he laughed, and said, " George, capture 
some of that sauce before the sherry is in." 
George said, '' All right, sir," and dashed like 
lightning for the door, for he had many a time 
passed her sherry in vain. Returning he gave 
the verdict, "Too late, sir." But she did not on 
this account refuse her favorite dessert, the most 
delectable of all puddings, a genuine English plum, 
made by an English cook. 

We should have reached New Orleans Thursday, 
but the currents had proved unfavorable and the 
'' norther " had delayed us. Friday morning we had 
arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi, and there 
was a long and vigorous whistling for a pilot. At 
eight we were at the quarantine station and had a 
visit from the doctor, every person, crew and pas- 
sengers, passing in review before him. All day 
we sailed on the Mississippi, but it was not at all 
pretty, as tjiere was very little verdure save the 



EAGERNESS FOR LAND. 219 

orange groves. At six o'clock we reached New 
Orleans and the voyage was over. 

We had been on the water five days and a 
half ; all the passengers were most eager for the 
shore and hastened off as soon as the steamer 
landed; but we were in no such haste to desert 
our refuge from Colon, and were the last to leave. 
The conduct of our fellow-passengers was most 
entertaining, especially the way in which they ar- 
rayed themselves in their most gorgeous apparel 
before going on shore. Some of the transforma- 
tions were wonderful, for these people from 
wretched Colon and off to "Los Estados Unidos" 
for a good time were in just the right condition to 
delight in dressing up like children. We stayed 
calmly behind and watched this hurried landing 
till all had gone ; first the passengers rushed 
pell-mell, then the officers went, then the crew, 
and finally even the two little kittens strolled out, 
and after them the two little stowaways. 

We must pronounce this voyage of all the four 
we made in this winter trip the most interesting. 
Others were taken in finer steamers, with better 
accommodations; but none were more really en- 
joyable. Much of this, if not all, was due to the 



220 A KIND AND THOUGHTFUL CAPTAIN. 

great kindness and thoughtfulness of the captain. 
Throughout the voyage he was ever mindful of 
the comfort and welfare of each one, and together 
with the purser was constantly trying in every 
way possible to make the voyage a pleasant one. 
The passengers were all duly grateful, and to 
show their gratitude, on the occasion of their last 
dinner together, presented him with a written tes- 
timonial setting forth this appreciation of himself 
and his officers. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ACROSS THE GULF TO VERA CRUZ. 

Arriving in New Orleans we were a little dis- 
appointed to learn that a steamer sailed for Vera 
Cruz in three days, which would give us but little 
time for the Exposition or rest from our sea 
voyage. One whole half day had to be given to 
searching for a lodging place, as every hotel was 
full. Finally we succeeded in getting two rooms, 
and for our meals went to the French restaurants, 
where we found the cooking most delicious, and 
had a perfect feast of good things. 

All the time we had we spent at the Exposition, 

which we found inferior to the Centennial. The 

\j , chief features were the Mexican exhibit and the 

government building, both of which were very 

fine. 

The thought of crossing the treacherous Gulf 
for the third time, and of landing in pestilential 
Vera Cruz, was not very pleasing, and, as if to 
keep it ever before our minds, we were con- 



222 A CALM AND PLACID VOYAGE. 

tinually being presented with hand-bills urging us, 
in the largest type and strongest terms, to '* see 
the Gulf of Mexico without fail before returning 
home." If those who heeded this solicitation saw 
anything worth seeing in the Gulf of Mexico we 
are glad, for it is about the last place in the world 
to which we should go for pleasure. 

There are several lines of steamers from New 
Orleans to Vera Cruz. We heard greatest 
praise of the Mexican line recently established, 
and should have been glad to have patronized it 
could we have made connections ; but it was then 
the last of March, and every day was bringing us 
nearer to the time of the yellow-fever epidemic, 
and consequently making it more and more dan- 
gerous to visit Vera Cruz. 

We sailed on the steamer Whitney , of the Mor- 
gan Line, from Morgan City, eighty miles from 
New Orleans. The steamer was a very good one, 
with excellent accommodations for passengers, and 
first-class fare. As it happened, the Gulf was in a 
very happy mood, smiling on us every day almost 
as placid as a lake ; but we did not love it, for all 
that, nor forget our first experience on its dreary 
waters. 



TIRED OF THE SEA. 223 

The passengers were nearly all Americans, 
going to Mexico for business or pleasure, and, on 
the whole, they were more companionable than 
those of our previous voyages. Still, in spite of 
the fine weather and people who spoke English, 
we did not really enjoy the voyage, for we were 
tired of the water, of the long, monotonous days 
at sea, of being so long out of sight of land, and 
of having nothing to do save to watch a few flying- 
fish or an occasional flock of sea-cranes. 

As usual, our greatest amusement and diversion 
was in studying our fellow-passengers ; but having 
in the preceding chapter disclosed to view the as- 
sociates of one voyage, we will forbear in this, and 
merely mention as some of the principal a charm- 
ing French lady, an artist, who captivated every- 
body ; a company of Catholic " Sisters," among 
whom was the lady superior, teacher of President 
Diaz' children; an elderly lady, of imposing 
mien, chaperoning her daughter and two young 
men about to settle as physicians in Mexico ; and 
a gentleman and his mother from Chicago, who 
became our friends and constant companions all 
the time we were in Mexico. 

Truly, if "the proper study of mankind is 



224 IMPORTUNATE BOATMEN: 

man," it is also the most interesting, and we found 
one of the greatest enjoyments in travelling to 
be this opportunity of meeting and making the 
acquaintance of so many different people. 

Sailing Tuesday morning, we arrived in Vera 
Cruz Saturday morning, making but one port on 
the way, that of Galveston, where we stopped long 
enough to go on shore and see something of the 
city. 

The entrance into Vera Cruz is exceedingly 
dangerous, and shipwrecks are frequent. It is 
impossible for any but small boats to land in a 
** norther," and if one happens to be blowing on 
Hearing Vera Cruz, the steamer is obliged to put 
back to sea and wait until it is over, which is 
sometimes as long as three days. 

As at all the ports on the Central American and 
Mexican coasts the steamer anchors out from land 
and passengers go on shore in small boats, so that 
the first introduction a stranger has to the country 
is to a motley crowd of dark, ragged boatmen. 
These men throng the steamer immediately on its 
arrival, and behave in all respects like importu- 
nate hackmen, augmenting the confusion by a 
constant stream of Spanish, until one has a perfect 



A QUEER OLD PLACE, 225 

conception of the tower of Babel, and does not 
fully recover from his bewilderment, nor feel quite 
sure whether he has engaged passage of one, a 
dozen, or in fact of anybody at all, until he and his 
baggage are settled in the boat and really sailing 
for shore. 

Having several times previously passed through 
these scenes, we were a little better off than many 
of our fellow-passengers, to whom it was a first 
experience. 

Vera Cruz ! How shall we describe it ? A 
queer old place, as strange as any in the world, 
and yet on our own continent. Founded by Cortez 
in 15 19, the first spot in Mexico on which the 
Spanish army landed, it was the starting-point of 
their great and marvellous march and conquest, 
and, later on, the port through which went untold 
wealth to enrich the kingdom of Spain. 

The view of the city from the water is very 
pretty, on account of its castles and shining domes 
and spires, its strange architecture, its waving 
palms and fruit trees. 

But most prominent of all is the castle of San 
Juan de Ulua on an island half a mile from shore, 
where the Spaniards found, when they first landed, 



226 BYRON- RECALLED. 

idols and evidences of human sacrifices. The 
castle was begun in 1662 but not finished until 
1796. It was a very strong fortress and the last 
point relinquished by the Spaniards, being held by 
them four years after the rest of the country was 
/^iven up. 

Now it is used as a prison for political offenders, 
md terrible is the lot of all incarcerated there, for 
the cells are dark, damp, and filthy, and some are 
nearly filled with water. It is said that among 
other poor wretches there is one so long deprived 
of air, light, and freedom that he has lost nearly 
all intelligence, and has even forgotten his own 
name. 

What stories those walls might reveal, even as 
terrible as the prison of Chillon, whose description 
accords very well with this castle : — 

" A double dungeon wall and wave 
Have made — and like a living grave." 

We tried very hard to find out which was the 
best of the three hotels in Vera Cruz, but invaria- 
bly received the answer, " Whichever one you go 
to, you will wish you had gone to some other," so 
we finally decided on the '' Vera Cruzano," because 
we happened to meet a clerk from there speaking 



A SPANISH CUISINE. 22/ 

English. Our rooms were comfortable enough, 
though with stone floors and single iron bedsteads, 
but we could not eat the food. The cooking was 
Spanish, and everything was spoiled with oil, red 
pepper, or some vile sauce, so that with a bill of 
fare that in writing would almost compare with 
that of Fifth Avenue Hotel, we really went hungry, 
subsisting almost solely upon a cup of coffee or 
chocolate and " pan dulce," the only articles of 
food we could enjoy. 

The balconies and corridors were made pretty 
by many plants and beautiful singing birds, among 
which was one most remarkable parrot, which 
chattered all day in Spanish, and sang songs, blew 
the trumpet, or played the cornet in a highly en- 
tertaining manner. 

The houses of Vera Cruz are built in the 
Spanish style — of small stones covered with plas- 
ter and tinted, but they are higher than those of 
Guatemala. The city is well supplied with horse- 
cars, and by taking one marked '' Circuito " we saw 
the whole place in a short time. A strange place 
it is, and in no respect a pleasing one, the Plaza 
being its only attraction. 

The city has a very old and oriental aspect; and 



228 STREET SCENES. 

one might easily imagine himself in ruined Pom- 
peii from glimpses into the interior of some of the 
courtyards of the old houses. The street scenes 
are indeed strange and curious ; the Mexicans in 
their striking costumes, with broad sombreros ; 
the Indians with their burdens; the hundreds of 
turkey-buzzards constituting the board of health 
(for the drainage is surface) ; the packs of "burros," 
poor, thin, wretched little donkeys, carrying great 
loads of charcoal, "zacate," or barrels of water; 
and another curious turnout, also common in the 
West Indies, that of three mules harnessed side 
by side, with the driver riding on the back of one 
of the mules instead of sitting in the wagon. 

The population is rather mixed, and impressed 
us most unfavorably. All the bad that has been 
said about Mexicans and Spaniards we could 
easily believe when we walked on the street and 
looked into the villanous faces of those we met — ■ 
faces enough to make one shudder, whereon the 
word desperado was plainly written. 

One day we witnessed a strange sight. A 
large, powerful man of this class, bound with stout 
ropes and surrounded by a guard of heavy-armed 
soldiers, was being led through the streets. On 



BANDITS. 229 

inquiry, a friend said this man so carefully guarded 
was one of the bandits, and that two or three a 
day were brought in from the country, where they 
had' been captured by picked men, appointed by 
the government to search them out. These 
bandits have no trial, but are despatched by the 
favorite Mexican method — shot dead without 
judge or jury. 

Coming, as we did, from Central America, we 
were most forcibly impressed with the difference 
between the natives of Guatemala and those of 
Vera Cruz, and our thoughts turned back with 
affection to the common but kind-hearted and 
amiable people of the former place. 

The unhealthiness of Vera Cruz is well known. 
There is probably no time during the year in 
which it is free from cases of yellow fever. The 
middle of April a quarantine is put on, and from 
May to November the disease rages fearfully, 
there being fifteen, twenty, and even thirty and 
forty deaths a day. The months of December, 
January, and February are safest, because coldest ; 
since the disease does not exist in a temperature 
of seventy-five degrees or less. We were in the 
city the last of March, and there were cases of the 



230 « THE CITY OF THE DEADr 

fever, but we had no fear, for we saw no appear- 
ance of any danger, and could scarcely believe the 
stories we heard of the unhealthiness of the place; 
besides, had we not been in Panama and Colon, 
places we believe to be far worse than Vera Cruz, 
although it has earned the name of **la ciudad de 
los muertos " (the city of the dead) ? It seemed 
strange that there should be ten thousand inhabi- 
tants in such a pestilential city, but it is a rich 
port, and besides it is possible to have yellow 
fever and live ; and those who have it once do not 
have it again. A German representing one of the 
most prominent houses there, a resident for fifty 
years, who, with his family, had had the disease, 
jokingly pronounced it a comfortable one. " You 
have no pain," he said, '^and in ten days are well 
or dead." 

Most of the deaths are among the Indians who 
come in from the country, for, thinly clad and sleep- 
ing out of doors, they are drenched by the rains and 
soon die of the fever. The epidemic rages most 
during the rainy season, and the greatest care 
must be taken not to get wet, for then a chill 
follows, and just as certainly the dread fever. 

The way to treat the disease is .to go immediately 



AN UNWILLING SOJOURN 23 1 

to bed, wrap up warmly, and keep in a perspiration 
for ten days, taking no solid food whatever ( for 
that is sure death), and only hot herb-drinks to 
keep up the perspiration. An American, who sur- 
vived the fever by carrying out this treatment, 
said that at the end of this time he looked as if he 
had been parboiled, but it was the only way to es- 
cape death. 

No one cares to stop in Vera Cruz, yet all arriv- 
ing by steamer are obliged to stay one night, for 
the train for Mexico leaves only in the morning. 
Our fellow-passengers all left the day after arriv- 
ing, but we stayed longer, because Vera Cruz was 
a very important port for the shipment of coffee. 

The first day the heat was excessive, the great- 
est we experienced in all our journey, and we felt 
quite prostrated ; but the next day a north wind 
sprung up and it was quite comfortable. 

On the third day of our sojourn in Vera Cruz, 
hastily drawing business to a close, we decided to 
start next morning for Mexico, and packed our 
trunks with joy at the thought, for on leaving 
Vera Cruz we left behind all business, all hard- 
ships, and all danger from pestilence, and started 
on a real pleasure trip to the City of Mexico. 



CHAPTER XVII. 
A day's journey from coast to capital. 

The distance from Vera Cruz to the City of 
Mexico is one hundred and ninety miles. It is 
traversed by a railroad, which is one of the finest 
pieces of engineering in the world, and reveals to 
the traveller most magnificent scenery, crossing, 
as it does, the high range of the Eastern Cordille- 
ras, tunnelling through mountains, bridging over 
great chasms, and running along the brink of 
precipices thousands of feet deep. There were 
almost insuperable obstacles to be overcome in the 
construction of this road over a high range of 
mountains. It was sixteen years in building, not 
being opened throughout its entire length until 
1873, and the cost was thirty-nine million dollars. 
Almost all the stock is owned in England, hence 
it is called the "English road." 

The scenery is especially remarkable from the 
fact that one passes in a few hours from the 
232 



THE VEGETATION OF ALL ZONES 233 

level of the sea to an elevation of over eight 
thousand feet, and sees the vegetation of all zones, 
from the palms and hot-house flowers of the 
coast, through groves and plantations of oranges, 
bananas, coffee, and tobacco, to the corn and wheat 
fields of our own clime, thence to the pines, oaks, 
and evergreens of colder latitudes, even to within 
sight of snow-peaked Orizaba. " In no country in 
the world can you pass so rapidly from zone to 
zone, — from the blazing shores of the heated 
tropics to the region of perpetual winter, from the 
land of the palm and vine to that of the pine and 
lichen ; for in twenty-four hours this can be ac- 
complished, and the traveller may ascend a snow 
peak with the sands of the shore still upon his 
shoes." 

On the morning of our departure for the City of 
Mexico we rose early, and before light passed out 
of the "Vera Cruzano " as the servants,, sleeping 
on cots by the doorway, were just arousing them- 
selves for their day's work. One of them followed 
us and solicited patronage, saying it was hardly safe 
for us to go unattended at that early hour. The 
streets were silent and deserted, and we decided 
to be relieved of our bundles and accept him 



234 A TRIBUTE TO MEXICAN SERVANTS, 

as an escort. He conducted us to a restaurant, 
where he waited upon us himself, bringing us our 
morning cup of coffee and "pan dulce," then ac- 
companied us to the station, found us seats on the 
left-hand side of the car, where we could get the 
finest views, and then took leave of us very po- 
litely, as if we were old friends. For all this very 
acceptable service he charged but five cents ! 

We mention this because among all the discom- 
forts of travelling in these countries there are 
some conveniences which we do not have at home, 
and one of these is the abundance of servants to 
be met with everywhere, who will carry your bun- 
dles any distance and render most willing and 
efficient attendance for this paltry sum of five 
cents. It is their sole business, and they are quite 
happy if they get one job a day. 

The cars are marked first, second, and third 
class — the latter being occupied by Indians. We 
were early, and found we had some time to wait, 
but the car soon filled with people, nearly all 
Americans, who arrived the night before by 
steamer from New York. Some Mexicans who 
were parting with each other gave us opportunity 
to observe the Spanish custom of leave-taking, 



WILD BEAUTIES. 235 

which seemed to us most peculiar. The men 
clasped each other in an affectionate embrace and 
pressed either cheek ; the ladies adopted the same 
method, with the addition of a kiss. 

The train starts at six o'clock, and for a while 
runs along the hot, dusty plains of Vera Cruz, but 
soon begins to ascend, and vegetation becomes 
more luxuriant, with orchids, roses, bananas, pine- 
apples ; olive, lime, and orange trees ; curious air- 
plants, and a tangle of flowering vines. As the 
way grows steeper, to overcome the obstacles pre- 
sented by the hills the road has to wind in and out 
and over great "barrancas" (ravines), at whose 
base rush mountain streams. It crosses several 
bridges, one quite famous, that of Atoyac, three 
hundred and thirty feet long, where the traveller 
gets a view of one of the most exquisite cascades, 
tumbling over the rocks of a wild ravine, clad in 
richest verdure. Occasionally one sees huts of 
the natives — rude structures made of poles, with 
thatched roofs, as in Guatemala; and the train 
stops at one or two small stations, crowded with 
Indians, who have fruits to sell. 

Our fellow-passengers, almost from the start, 
had all been looking through glasses for a glimpse 



236 SNOW-CROWNED ORIZABA. 

of Orizaba, a volcano seventeen thousand three 
hundred and seventy-eight feet high, with its foot 
in the land of perpetual summer and its head 
in a region of lasting cold. 

We looked in vain at first, but after a while, 
chancing to glance to the right, suddenly we be- 
held this most magnificent spectacle, Orizaba, with 
its crown of dazzling snow glistening in the sun- 
shine. The sight was finer than we could ever 
have imagined. It was at once very grand and 
very beautiful, and an exclamation of wonder and 
delight involuntarily escaped us at this first and 
unexpected view of a snow-capped mountain. 

The first station of importance is Cordova, 
which is situated in a rich valley at a height of 
two thousand seven hundred and three feet. It 
contains fine orange groves and large sugar plan- 
tations, and is the centre of a coffee-growing 
district. 

Soon after leaving this station the road for a 
time runs along the brink of the wonderful " bar- 
ranca" Metlac, which is one thousand feet deep, 
and then it crosses the chasm by a bridge com- 
manding a fine view. The road, always ascending, 
winds in and out, dashing through dark tunnels, 



A VISION OF EDEN. 23/ 

crossing bridges over deep ravines, or curving 
around a bend of the mountains. These curves 
are often so sharp that from one's seat in the car 
the whole train is visible from one end to the 
other, and the winding road itself can be seen 
traversing the mountains by a sinuous path, like 
the trail of a serpent. 

The fact of the ascent is plainly shown by the 
change in the character of the vegetation ; for our 
familiar cornfields begin to appear mingling with 
plantations of tobacco, coffee, rice, and sugar- 
cane. 

This is one of the most fertile valleys of Mex- 
ico, and to our fellow-passengers just from the 
United States — which they had left in cold, 
bleak, and dreary March — the sight of it was 
like a first vision of the Garden of Eden ; to us 
it was like a second and better view, for in our 
journey across Guatemala we had scenery like 
this, only we now saw it under more auspicious 
circumstances, a railway car being a far better 
observatory than a mule's back. 

At half-past ten we reached the city of Ori- 
zaba, at an elevation of 4088 feet, having in the 
last sixteen miles climbed 1375 feet! Here we 



238 MARVELLOUS ENGLNEERING. 

Stopped long enough for breakfast, and were glad 
to find it quite eatable, the cooking being more 
American than that of Vera Cruz. The city- 
is ancient, and very pretty, with a picturesque 
situation and quite healthful climate. It is a 
health resort for Vera Cruz during its scourges 
of yellow fever. 

Leaving Orizaba, the road still ascends, and in 
the next three hours climbs three thousand feet ! 
The country now grows less fertile, but the 
scenery more sublime. Having passed the noted 
gorge known as Infiernillo, or Little Hell, a giddy 
and terrible precipice, we were all shut in by 
mountains, and could see the winding track be- 
low and above us. Looking up we saw a faint 
line far, far above, on the very top of the moun- 
tain, and said to each other, " Can it be possible 
that we are to ascend to that height } " It was 
indeed possible, but not to an ordinary locomo- 
tive. The one employed is the powerful Fairlie 
"double-ender," which looks like two engines 
combined. This giant literally began to climb 
the mountain, like a fly crawling up a wall. 
Slowly it crept up the steep ascent, occasion- 
ally stopping as if exhausted, and being recu- 



A FAIRY TO WAT. 239 

perated with a supply of wood and water. Thus 
with almost breathless anxiety we ascended to the 
region of the pine and oak, and to a height 
greater than that of Mt. Washington. Suddenly 
a most glorious panorama was spread out before 
us — a fertile valley, thousands of feet below, all 
shut in by mountains, and called most appropri- 
ately *'La Joya," the Jewel. In the centre of 
it is the village of Maltrata, laid out in perfect 
squares of living green, with streets as straight 
as an arrow, and with picturesque houses and 
flowering gardens, the whole effect being so beau- 
tiful that it did not seem like a real town, de- 
signed as a habitation for mortals, but like the 
work of some fairy for enchantment. The scen- 
ery at this point was the finest in all the jour- 
ney, glorious beyond description. As the train 
wound in and out, we had one moment a full 
view of this beautiful valley, then turning a bend 
of the mountain lost it altogether ; but again 
and again, when we . thought we had seen it for 
the last time, it burst upon our view in all its 
beauty. The passengers were all excitement — 
one moment on their feet, uttering exclamations 
of surprise and wonder ; the next, spell-bound, 



240 «Z^ BOCA DEL MONTE J' 

and almost breathless, at the magnificence and 
awfulness of the scene. The track, like the 
mule-path of Guatemala, is for ten miles built 
along the mountain side, on a bed of terraced 
rock, with a grade rising more than four feet in 
every hundred. Once the track crosses a bridge 
over a chasm ninety feet long, where, if any- 
thing should happen, the train would be precipi- 
tated two or three thousand feet. 

We were all aware of the dangerous height 
we were scaling, for Maltrata looked scarcely 
larger than a toy village ; and a mule train visi- 
ble half-way up the mountain looked no larger 
than so many mice. The grandeur of the scene 
was too great to be long enjoyable, and we drew 
a sigh of relief as we reached " La Boca del 
Monte" (the mouth of the mountain), 7,900 feet 
above the sea — the end of the steep ascent, and 
the beginning of the great Mexican plateau. ''In 
the last thirteen miles we had climbed over three 
thousand perpendicular feet ! " 

A few miles more of gradual ascent, and at 
half-past one we reached Esperanza, the highest 
point, 8,303 feet. Here a long stop is made, 
and an excellent meal served, but having break- 



A MEXICAN- CABALLERO. 24 1 

fasted at Orizaba, we spent our time in viewing 
the station, and the crowd there gathered. As 
usual, there were many Indians offering for sale 
various 'kinds of fruits (many of which are un- 
known to Americans), and all sorts of sweets 
and native eatables with which to tempt the 
Mexican taste, and the curiosity of strangers. 
But the most noticeable of all the crowd was a 
handsome looking young Mexican, in a riding 
suit, presenting an appearance elegant enough 
to make our greatest " swells " green with envy. 
With a -rich dark complexion, a fine form, and 
manly bearing, his natural beauty was further 
enhanced by his dress, which was most elegant 
and showy, and consisted of a sombrero of drab 
felt, with an enormously wide brim and a rich 
trimming of silver ; a jacket and vest of spotless 
white, elaborately embroidered ; and trousers of 
fine black cloth, with rows of silver buttons on 
the seam from top to bottom. An enormous 
pistol, and a display of jewelry, completed his ele- 
gant toilet, and enhanced the fine appearance of 
which he was fully conscious, as well as of the 
admiration which he excited. Then there were 
three armed soldiers, to protect the train from 



242 IJsr THE LAND OF CIJT-THROATS. 

robbery, for we were travelling in a land of thieves 
and cut-throats, and every station on the road is 
guarded by picked men, appointed by the govern- 
ment. The business of these men is to scour the 
country, search out bandits, and bring them to 
justice, or, rather, to death, for they are shot as 
soon as apprehended. This method has proved 
quite effectual, and so many have been disposed of 
in this summary manner that for a year there has 
been no train-wrecking on this road. Before this 
vigorous policy was adopted, attacks were fre- 
quent, and the train rarely went to Mexico with 
a whole pane of glass in its windows, because of 
great stones thrown into the cars, and a passen- 
ger seldom arrived with all his possessions. On 
the train there is a guard of thirty soldiers, to 
protect it from any attack. Every Mexican car- 
ries arms, and considers a pistol as much a part 
of his dress as our men do a necktie. All this 
array of military power to ensure our safety in 
travelling, even by rail, did not impress us very 
favorably with Mexico. In strong contrast to 
this, and with grateful remembrance, we think of 
our journey across Guatemala, when, with only a 
guide and one Indian, wholly unarmed and unpro- 



ON THE TABLE-LANDS. 243 

tected, we travelled through the lonely interior of 
that country in perfect safety. 

Our journey from this point was across the 
dusty table-lands. Here we met the train from 
Mexico, and parted with our giant "Janus," which 
must go down the steep descent back to Vera 
Cruz with this Mexican train, while we took its 
engine — an ordinary American one — in exchange. 
We had passed all the fine scenery, and there was 
nothing of interest save Orizaba, which was still 
visible for a time. The table-lands are quite bar- 
ren, save for fields of wheat and rye the first 
few miles, and after that extensive fields of 
maguey, or the American aloe, from which 
"pulque," the national drink, is made. As it 
was the last of the dry season, the dust was 
something fearful, and entered the car in clouds, 
so that, after leaving Esperanza, there was no 
enjoyment or comfort. "Esperanza" is the Span- 
ish for hope, and we wondered some time why 
the place was so called, but finally concluded that 
it must be because after leaving it the traveller's 
only hope is that he will not be suffocated with 
dust and tobacco-smoke before he reaches Mexico. 
The Americans in the car complained of the Span- 



244 ENVELOPED IN DUST AND SMOKE. 

ish custom, and out of pity for the ladies for a while 
desisted from smoking : but the love of the weed 
soon overcame them, and the smoke of their pipes 
and cigars, much stronger than the cigc.rettes almost 
universally smoked by the Mexicans, was added to 
the dust, until from the combination of both it was 
almost impossible to breathe, and the ladies had 
to saturate their handkerchiefs with cologne and 
hold them to their faces to keep from choking. 
We could not but regret that the latter part 
of the journey must be disagreeable ; but, like 
Guatemala, Mexico seemed eager to remind us 
that nowhere on earth could we find perfection, 
nor in this world be always in regions of beauty ; 
that we were but mortals, and, having been 
granted a glance at fairyland, we must then come 
back to the stern realities of human existence and 
to the trials and woes of mankind. 

We found our only entertainment after this at 
the stations, in watching the strange crowd and in 
patronizing the venders until we had tasted of all 
the native productions, one of the principal dishes 
being "tamales," a sort of turnover filled with a 
mixture of meat, potato, chili, and dried fruits, 
9.nd which we found quite palatable, in spite of 



EXTENSIVE STOCK-RAISING. 245 

its peculiar constitution. There, too, was the 
" pulque," looking like milk and tasting like yeast, 
made from the aloe or century plant, which grows 
here in great abundance for miles and miles, and 
of which we shall speak again later on. The table- 
lands seemed to be a fine country for stock-raising, 
and there are numerous haciendas (ranches) and 
great herds of cattle and sheep, although what 
they live on in the dry season we could hardly tell, 
— in fact we could see little but dust. Every 
ranch has to be surrounded by a great wall, for 
this is one of the lawless parts of Mexico, the 
haunt of banditti. 

At every station beggars are numerous and 
very importunate, hideous, ragged, and dirty, the 
most repulsive looking creatures on the face of 
the earth. The towns were all very strange in 
appearance, built of adobe, just the color of the 
dust in which they stand, and always containing 
many churches (for the old conquerors were zeal- 
ous missionaries), and always surrounded by a 
strong wall for protection against robbers. The 
names of the places are quite unpronounceable and 
we troubled ourselves with only one, that of one 
which impressed us as being the strangest of all 



246 A FAMOUS ROBBER TOWN. 

strange places we had ever seen ; very, very old, 
with ruined walls and churches, with dust-colored 
houses, standing in the dust of to-day, with the 
appearance of being buried in the "dust of ages." 
A Spanish gentleman (a real Spaniard from 
Spain), who sat opposite and occasionally con- 
versed with us, gave us the name of the town — 
Huamantla, a famous robber town, from time im- 
memorial the haunt of robbers and desperadoes. 
This station is guarded with unusual care, there 
being, besides the regular guard, three mounted 
horsemen, powerful looking men, armed with 
swords and lassos. 

Through rows of maguey and through queer old 
adobe towns, after the sun had set and darkness 
had closed about us, enveloped in dust and smoke, 
and listening to tales of blood and adventure in 
Mexico told by an American behind us, still we 
sped on for hours over the Mexican plateau to its 
capital. We arrived about nine o'clock, and once 
more we felt stranded on a foreign shore, as we 
felt on arriving at La Tinta, where we spent our 
first night in the interior of Guatemala. We 
hardly knew what to do or where to go, until we 
heard the welcome voice of our Chicago friend 



A HELPING HAND. 247 

and gratefully followed his lead through the 
rabble of Spanish hackmen to the carriage he 
had already engaged, and thence to the hotel, 
where through his kindness we found rooms await- 
ing us. 

Never once in all our journeying did we lack a 
helping hand. In every time of need some kind 
friend always appeared to help smooth away our 
difficulties, and we shall through life retain grate- 
ful remembrances of many a one who acted the 
part of the Good Samaritan. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

CITY OF MEXICO. 

No country by its nature and history presents 
greater attractions to the tourist, antiquarian, 
scientist, student, adventurer, and speculator, 
than Mexico. It possesses scenery unsurpassed 
by any in the world ; the products of all kingdoms 
and climes in the greatest abundance ; a history 
most romantic, rich in legend and tradition, in 
brilliance of exploit, in heroic as well as bloody 
deeds ; a heterogeneous people, of peculiar charac- 
teristics and remarkable history, from the Aztec, 
of unknown origin and pathetic story, to the Span- 
iard, of marvellous conquest and bloody deeds. 
Nowhere can there be found grander mountains, 
fairer valleys, lovelier flowers, a finer climate, more 
remarkable ruins, or a stranger and more interest- 
ing people. 

" Thou Italy of the Occident, 
Land of flowers and summer climes, 
Of holy priests and horrid crimes ; 
Land of the cactus and sweet cocoa; 
248 



THE PRAISES OF MEXICO. 249 

Richer than all the Orient 

In gold and glory, in want and woe, 

In self-denial, in days misspent, 

In truth and treason, in good and guilt, 

In ivied ruins and altars low, 

In battered walls and blood misspilt, 

Glorious, gory Mexico ! " 

No city in the world, it seems to us, can be, from 
every point of view, more interesting to visit than 
the City of Mexico. But let us take the authority 
of others on this subject. Humboldt, the great 
naturalist, who has made most extensive investiga- 
tions there, is most extravagant in his praises. 
Bayard Taylor, the distinguished traveller, pro- 
nounces the City of Mexico, with its surrounding 
valley, " one of the loveliest scenes of the civilized 
world." One of England's ministers writes : 
"Amongst the various capitals of Europe, there 
are few that can support with any advantage a 
comparison with Mexico." Steele says it is "a 
capital that may be as old as Thebes, is as quaint 
as Tangiers, as foreign as old Spain, and as new 
as the newest American territory to all modern 
things " ; and Sala, the noted London Journalist : 
** Of all the strange countries, to me Mexico is the 
strangest. It is the only country about which I 
(dream ; its quaint and picturesque scenery, and 



250 AN INVITING FIELD FOR TOURISTS. 

tropical products, lingering ever in my imagina- 
tion." 

It is only recently that travel in Mexico has 
been at all easy ; but now that it is fairly opened 
by railroads, particularly since the building of the 
Mexican Central, its claim as one of the most 
interesting places in the world to visit will soon 
assert itself, and a tide of travel will pour in upon 
the country. Then, doubtless, more of the con- 
veniences of civilized life will be furnished the 
tourist ; although, if the country loses some of its 
national characteristics thereby, as is likely, the 
change will be, in a sense, one to be lamented, for 
the really appreciative traveller will prefer the gran- 
deur of nature to the comforts of modern life, and 
the primitive characteristics of Mexico to the ele- 
gance of civilized society. The fastidious tourist 
will find much of which to complain in Mexico, and 
such a one may go there and perceive little but 
**dirt, rags, and a strong odor of garlic." These 
are certainly noticeable, but they must be ignored 
if one would enjoy Mexico. 

* At present there are no really good hotels. 
The principal one is the Iturbide, once the impe- 
rial residence of the first emperor of Mexico after 



MEXICAN HOTELS. .25 1 

its independence. It is a palatial building of four 
stories, with five large *' patios," and is the fashion- 
able hotel of the city. Adjoining it, and really a 
part o£ it, is the San Carlos, of equal respectability. 
What the traveller especially notices in regard to 
these, as all Mexican hotels, is the absence of soap 
and matches (articles never furnished), a scarcity 
of towels, candles for lighting, single beds, hard 
pillows, and an abundance of fleas. The plan 
adopted by many Americans — and one which we 
pursued — is to take rooms at one of these hotels 
and then go to a restaurant for meals. The res- 
taurant most highly recommended to us was the 
Cafe Anglais, but this from an American stand- 
point is inferior. Besides the morning cup of 
coffee there were two meals, breakfast, which was 
not served until twelve o'clock, and dinner at six. 
The bill of fare for both meals was almost identi- 
cal, and soon became monotonous. 

The City of Mexico is situated in a beautiful 
valley, which has an elevation of seven thousand 
five hundred feet and is completely surrounded by 
mountains. It is built upon the same spot as the 
old capital of the Aztecs. But a great physical 
change has taken place since their time, for their 



252 A GREAT PHYSICAL CHANGE. 

capital was built on an island in Lake Tezcuco, 
whose waters flowed in canals through every part 
of the city ; while the modern Mexico is built on 
solid ground. The cause of this change was the 
diminution of the lake, which is now three miles 
distant, but which in times of heavy rains threatens 
to assume its old dominion and flood the city. 
This danger is further increased by the fact that 
the level of the lake is only four feet below the 
great square of Mexico. There have already been 
several inundations. Once for a period of five 
years the water stood at such a depth in the 
streets that boats were used as in the olden times. 
To obviate this danger various means have been 
tried, the principal one being the dike of " Nochis- 
tongo," the greatest earth-cutting in the world, 
but as yet unfinished. 

The houses of Mexico are of stone, three or 
four stories high, built in the Spanish style, with 
patios, balconies, and barred windows. The streets 
all run at right angles, terminating in a square, but 
for all that it is difficult for a stranger to find 
his way, since the exteriors of the houses present 
one continuous straight wall, so that there are 
very few landmarks save churches, and, moreover. 



A BEAUTIFUL CLIMATE. 253 

every block in the street has a separate name and 
number. Its population is estimated at three 
hundred thousand. It has almost numberless 
churches, beautiful gardens and squares, and fine 
avenues. 

The climate is justly celebrated, though to us 
not so agreeable as that of Guatemala, of some- 
what less elevation. The region is one of per- 
petual summer, with flowers and fruits the year 
round. The temperature ranges from sixty-five to 
eighty-five degrees ; it is quite warm in the middle 
of the day, but always cool morning and night. 
The rarefied air is said to affect the breathing, 
though we noticed no unpleasant sensation, except 
a restlessness and sleeplessness, which may have 
been due to the exhilarating effects of the atmos- 
phere, and which made it impossible for us to take 
a siesta. The city itself is not as healthy as 
some others in Mexico, for example Puebla. This 
is due to the fact of a lack of drainage, which 
causes malaria and typhus fever, and would, if not 
for the great elevation, make the city very un- 
healthy. Pneumonia is quite prevalent, and " tak- 
ing cold " is greatly dreaded. 

Before describing the city let us look back a 



254 THE VENICE OF THE AZTECS. 

little into its past, that we may the better under- 
stand the people and the scenes we witness. 

When Cortez and his army, in 1520, after their 
perilous and adventurous march from the coast, 
came to the present site of Mexico, they found 
the capital of a kingdom which astonished them 
for its wealth, power, and magnificence, — the 
kingdom of the Aztecs, who came into Mexico at 
the close of the thirteenth century. Who these 
Aztecs were, or whence they came, is still a mys- 
tery. Some have tried to identify them with the 
lost tribes of Israel, others believe they are of 
Asiatic origin ; but whoever they were, it is certain 
they were a wonderful people, for the Spaniards, 
from the most advanced country of Europe at 
that time, were astonished at their civilization. 
Prescott gives us the Spaniards' first impression of 
the capital as follows : " Like some Indian Em- 
press with her coronal of pearls — the fair city 
of Mexico, with her white towers and pyramidal 
temples, reposing as it were on the bosom of the 
waters, — the far famed * Venice of the Aztecs.' " 

At the entrance of the city the Spaniards were 
met by the royal retinue, which advanced with as 
much pomp as that of an Oriental prince: "Amidst 



A SPLENDID PAGEANT. 255 

a crowd of Indian nobles, preceded by three officers 
of state, bearing golden wands, they saw the royal 
palanquin blazing with burnished gold. It was 
borne on the shoulders of nobles, and over it a 
canopy of gaudy feather work, powdered with 
jewels and fringed with silver, was supported by 
four attendants of the same rank. When the train 
had come within a convenient distance, Monte- 
zuma descended from his litter, leaning on the 
arms of two lords, and the obsequious attendants 
strewed the ground with cotton tapestry that his 
imperial feet might not be contaminated by the 
rude soil. His subjects, who lined the sides of the 
causeway, bent forward with their eyes fastened 
on the ground as he passed, and some of the 
humbler classes prostrated themselves before 
him." 

" Montezuma wore the girdle and ample square 
cloak, nilmatli,' of his nation. It was made of the 
finest cotton, with the embroidered ends gathered 
in a knot round his neck. His feet were defended 
by sandals having soles of gold, and the leathern 
thongs which bound them to his ankles were em- 
bossed with the same metal. Both the cloak and 
sandals were sprinkled with pearls and preciou^ 



256 AZTEC CIVILIZATION. 

stones. On his head he wore no other ornament 
than a * panache' of plumes of the royal green, 
which floated down his back, the badge of mili- 
tary rank." 

When they entered the city they were still fur- 
ther filled with admiration and wonder. The ex- 
cellence of the architecture astonished them, and 
they pronounced the best of the buildings equal 
to those in Spain. The houses were of stone from 
the quarries, with flat roofs covered with gardens, 
and with walls of scented wood, hung with rich 
tapestries and feather work. The buildings 
covered large spaces of ground, that of Monte- 
zuma being described as so extensive that the 
whole could not be traversed at one time without 
the greatest fatigue. There were beautiful gar- 
dens, a large aviary, menageries of wild beasts, 
and an immense market place in which were gath- 
ered products and riches from the whole realm. 
The emperor presented them with rich gifts of 
gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, and other precious 
stones, which dazzled the eyes of the avaricious 
Spaniards and made them long for conquest. 

The people, too, were quite advanced in the 
mechanical arts, agriculture, and weaving; their 



A GIFTED PEOPLE. 257 

fabrics were of great fineness and beauty; their 
feather work, of which some remnant remains at 
the present day, was remarkable ; and the work 
of their silversmiths the Spaniards pronounced 
superior to their own. Even allowing much for 
exaggeration on the part of the Spaniards, there 
is no doubt but this was a remarkable kingdom 
and one seeing the Indians of to-day in Mexico 
can hardly realize that they can be the direct 
descendants of the gifted Aztecs, until he remem- 
bers what the long years of oppression under the 
Spanish rule must have done, and the fact that in 
spite of all this the best beloved President of 
Mexico, Juarez, was a full-blooded Indian. 

In the conquest of Mexico the noblest of the 
Aztecs fell, and the Spaniards married the high- 
born Indian maidens, so that while about four- 
fifths of the population are Indians, the remainder 
are " mestizos," with the exception of some Cas- 
tilians and foreigners. 

Our first impressions of the people we have 
already given as very unfavorable, because of the 
desperate-looking men we saw, the great necessity 
for military force to insure safety in travelling, 
and the deeds of blood and cruelty which are even 



258 rtVo PEOPLES COMPARED, 

now committed. But in the City of Mexico we 
saw pleasanter faces, and many tourists are 
very favorably impressed by the people. They 
are very courteous and polite, as are all Spanish 
people, every man, however poor, being a gen- 
tleman. But we were much less pleased with 
them than the Guatemaltecans, with whom we 
naturally compared them. They seemed to us 
less honest, more cruel, and less intelligent ; at 
any rate, not nearly as quick in understanding 
poor Spanish, for to a Guatemaltecan we need 
say only a few words and all our wants would be 
understood, if they had not already been antici- 
pated, but to a Mexican we must give a full and 
correct sentence before we could get anything, 
and were often out of patience with his stupidity. 
We wondered much why there should be such a 
difference between the people of these two adjoin- 
ing countries, both having been originally occupied 
by Indians, conquered and settled by Spaniards, 
and under Spanish rule for about the same length 
of time. It seemed to us that part of the answer 
lay in the difference in the Indian blood, the Indians 
of Guatemala being descended from the Toltecs, 
who are supposed to have been superior to the 



FREE FROM CARE, 259 

Aztecs, as less warlike, more gentle and industrious, 
and, above all, not cannibals or practisers of the 
terrible rite of human sacrifice, which stained the 
history of the Aztecs. We noticed at once a dif- 
ference between the Mexican and Guatemala In- 
dians. Though of the same general appearance 
and charcteristics, the Mexican Indians are rather 
larger, less cleanly and less honest, and with less 
attractive faces. But this will not account for all 
the difference, and, doubtless, more is due to the 
fact that Mexico's great natural resources and the 
stories of its fabulous wealth have attracted to it 
many of the worst and most adventurous of all na- 
tions. 

With no thought of business, our whole time 
now was given to sight-seeing, in company with 
the two friends from Chicago, who greatly en- 
hanced our pleasure and profit, for, having trav- 
elled so long alone, we were pleased to find com- 
panions who not only were most agreeable, but 
were also accustomed to travelling, and understood 
well the art of sight-seeing. 

The street scenes in the City of Mexico were 
more fascinating to us than any panorama or 
museum, and it was a perfect delight, an experi- 



260 THE POWER OF TIME DEFIED, 

ence ever new and ever fresh, simply to walk the 
streets and view the people, — this ''quaint, primi- 
tive, slow, and picturesque people." There are 
the Indians, the direct descendants of the old 
Aztecs, who once held sway in this fertile valley. 
To-day they still dwell here, the same race whom 
Cortez conquered, changed and still unchanged. 
They have transferred their worship of idols to 
that of the Virgin ; their feasts and holy days in 
honor of their gods to the saints of the Catholic 
Church. They have learned the Spanish language 
(some of them), but that is about all. They 
still dress in much the same fashion, eat the same 
food, build their houses as of old, raise vegetables 
and flowers, sell goods in the market place, and 
make rag figures and the beautiful feather work 
which so enchanted Cortez. Whole villages ex- 
actly as they were three hundred years ago, aque- 
ducts all bringing water into the City of Mexico, 
and the famous '' floating gardens," still exist as 
their monuments. We meet these Indians at 
every turn, and forget their dirt and rags in the 
thought of their wonderful history. Nowhere else 
is there to be found a more primitive people — a 
people so long remaining unchanged, a people 



THE VILE ''LEPEROr 26 1 

conquered but not subdued, brought low but not 
enslaved, ruled over but still ruling. 

Besides these we met the " caballero," in Euro- 
pean dress; the "fair senorita " of pure Castilian 
blood, dressed in the conventional black and wear- 
ing the graceful Spanish mantilla; the *' charro," 
or Mexican rider, in his striking costume, on a horse 
with magnificent trappings ; troops of soldiers in 
uniform ; venders of lottery tickets as thick as 
flies; the loathsome "leperos," and the quaint 
and pleasant-faced "aguador," or water-carrier — 
these two latter in striking contrast, one the most 
repulsive, the other the most interesting personage 
of the streets of Mexico. The former is a ragged 
and dirty ''mestizo," one of the vilest specimens 
of humanity, a born thief and murderer. He 
meets you at every turn, being especially promi- 
nent in the cathedrals on feast days ; importunes 
you for money in a whining, monotonous tone 
''por Dios " ; is ever on the lookout to steal your 
watch and money ; and, if any one wants to be rid 
of you, "will kill you for a dollar." There is no 
place where greater care must be exercised against 
pickpockets. It has almost passed into a proverb 
that every American who comes to Mexico loses 



262 THE KINDLY "AGUADOR:* 

his watch, but we met with no trouble whatever of 
this kind. 

The "aguador," whom we always liked to meet, 
is as honest as the '^ lepero" is dishonest, and shows 
it in his kindly face. His business is to convey 
water from the various fountains throughout the 
city to the houses. His dress is a queer suit of 
leather, and on his back, from a leather strap, 
hangs a large earthen jar, while in his hands he 
carries a water pitcher. Always with the same 
kind, unvarying expression and statuesque pose, 
he looks like some queer figure that has suddenly 
stepped out of an old museum and taken on the 
power of locomotion. 

The trade of '' cargador," or burden-bearing, is 
followed as extensively in Mexico as in Guate- 
mala. Almost everything used in the great city 
is borne on the backs of men. It was no uncom- 
mon sight to see a piano being carried by three or 
four men, for there is no other express. A com- 
pany was started a while ago by a New York firm, 
but it proved a failure. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

IN AND ABOUT THE PLAZA. 

As in the old Roman Empire " all roads lead to 
Rome," so in Mexico all streets lead to the Plaza 
Mayor, and every morning, after taking our coffee, 
we wended our way thither, and then started on 
the excursion we had planned for the day. The 
Plaza is the great central square of the city, from 
which lines of horse-cars run in all directions. On 
its four sides are the great cathedral, the National 
Palace, and the ''portales," or open arcades, where 
there are numberless shops lining both sides of 
the pavement. In the centre of the square is the 
pleasure garden called the " zocalo," with beau- 
tiful flowers and trees, among which are found 
both the palm and the pine growing together, a 
sight seen in but few parts of the world. There 
is music here two or three times a week, and 
then the scene is a gay one, for the garden is 
thronged with all classes, from the highest to the 

263 



264 '' NIEVE'' AND FRUlT-DRmKS. 

lowest. Venders of curious Mexican products are 
of course numerous, among whom are small boys 
calling " nieve " (Mexican ice-cream), which tastes, 
as its name would indicate, like half melted 
snow with a little vanilla flavoring. Real ice- 
cream is not known here, although it would be 
refreshing in this climate ; but ice is a luxury 
and has to be manufactured by machinery or 
brought down from Popocatapetl on mules' backs. 
Formerly all the ice used by the city was supplied 
from the icicles of this volcano. 

Instead of ice-cream there are fruit-drinks of va- 
rious kinds, which are most refreshing, although 
rather too sweet for the American taste. All 
along on one side of the "zocalo " is a row of 
white, gayly decorated tents, where these drinks 
are sold. The principal are 'Mimonada" (from 
the lime), "tamarinda" (from the tamarind), ''chia" 
(from a fruit unknown to us), "orchata" (from 
melon seeds), and "pina" (from the pineapple). 
We never passed these tents without patronizing 
one of them, which was on an average about 
twice a day, and we had many and long struggles 
to get the "limonada" sour enough to suit one 
of the party. 



'' pulque:' 265 

The " pulque," which is the national drink, is 
not sold in such an attractive manner, but is carted 
about in skins of black pigs. As has been before 
stated, the *' pulque" is made from the maguey or 
century-plant, as we call it, which, on the plains of 
Mexico, attains a great size, its leaves being some- 
times ten feet long. The sap of the plant is ex- 
tracted by an Indian, who draws it out through a 
gourd by suction. A single plant yields from two 
to seven quarts a day, and is valued at ten dollars. 
The sap when first removed is sweet, and appro- 
priately called "aguamiel," or honey-water. This 
allowed to ferment about twenty-four hours be- 
comes " pulque," which contains about six per cent 
of alcohol. It looks very much like buttermilk, 
and has a sour, disagreeable odor and taste (to any 
but a Mexican), but is said to be a refreshing drink 
and a most excellent promoter of digestion, and 
Europeans and Americans can learn to like it. 
Further fermented it becomes " mescal," which is 
very intoxicating, containing about as much alco- 
hol as whiskey. " Pulque " was invented by the 
Toltecs, who were as fond of it as the Mexicans are 
to-day, and some idea of the estimation in which 
it is now held may be gained from the feet that a 



266 THE GREAT CATHEDRAL. 

daily train is run from the ''maguey" district, one 
hundred miles from Mexico, to the city, for the 
sole transportation of "pulque," from which the 
railroad derives a revenue of one thousand dollars 
a day. The plant is also put to many other uses, 
the leaves being used for thatching and for making 
paper, the fibres for making thread and twine, the 
thorns for needles. 

The great cathedral at the head of the Plaza is 
the most prominent building in all Mexico, and is 
said to be the largest church on the American con- 
tinent. It is built on the very spot of the old 
Aztec temple, which was destroyed by Cortez in 
1530. The cost was two million dollars, notwith- 
standing the fact that most of the labor was free, 
the Indians working from a spirit of devotion. 

The exterior is very beautiful, with elaborate 
stucco work, and the interior still rich, although it 
has been stripped of its greatest wealth by the 
successive plunderings which have occurred in 
various times of revolution and invasion. Lead- 
ing from the main body of the house are twenty- 
five chapels, each with its own altar and saint. So 
vast is this great church that forty priests can say 
mass at the same time without interference, and ^ 



A GORGEOUS INTERIOR. 267 

company of ten thousand soldiers make scarcely 
any impression. 

When the clerical party was at the height of its 
power* and possessed nearly all the wealth of 
Mexico, the great altar in the centre of the cathe- 
dral was the richest in the world, and it is now 
magnificent, although it has lost many rich treas- 
ures, such as gold crosses, censers and chalices 
studded with precious gems, golden candlesticks 
heavier than a man could lift, and statues of gold 
set with diamonds. The church is still adorned 
with exceedingly beautiful frescoes and paintings 
by celebrated artists, but the general effect of the 
interior is rather of gorgeousness than elegance. 

We happened to be in Mexico during Lent, 
when almost every day is a feast day, when the 
churches are all draped, all the ladies go to mass 
in black, and services are frequently and faithfully 
attended. The cathedral seemed to be crowded 
all the time with rich and poor, high and low 
alike ; the beautiful senora could be seen kneel- 
ing on the stone floor beside a ragged Indian 
with a load on his back, and the proud Span- 
iard close beside the dirty beggar. Palm Sunday 
the cathedral was so crowded that we could 



268 ''DRIVING THE DEVIL OUTP 

scarcely find standing room, and the air so close 
and odorous that we were thankful to get out as 
soon as possible. There was a gay scene before 
the church, where hundreds of Indian women 
were sitting, weaving the palm leaves into various 
pretty and curious shapes, and decorating them 
with bright-colored poppies. Everybody carried 
one of these palms, and the bright color of the 
poppies setting off the yellow background of the 
leaf made the streets look bright and gay. 

Almost every day of this week was a feast day 
to some saint or saints, and had its own particular 
observances. One of the most curious supersti- 
tions is shown in the fact that all the children 
as they go about the streets Thursday swing a 
rattle with great vehemence, and firmly believe 
that the noise will "drive the devil out of town." 
Sometimes these rattles are attached to a gro- 
tesque image of the arch-fiend, but in whatever 
form they are made, they are swung by the small 
boys with great delight, and fill the air with noise 
enough to banish Satan and all his host. On 
Good Friday the people take it upon them- 
selves to execute vengeance upon Judas. Num - 
berless effigies of the betrayer, filled with explo- 



VENGEANCE UPON JUDAS. 269 

sives, are paraded about the streets and blown up 
by the boys amidst great enthusiasm. Saturday 
morning immense figures of Judas are stretched 
across the streets, very many being hung in front 
of the cathedral, and at 10 a. m. all the bells 
ring with great clamor, the drapings fall in the 
churches, fire-works Ccre set off, and the images of 
Judas are exploded in the midst of great rejoicing. 
Easter Sunday is of course the great festal day ; 
then the churches are beautifully decorated, and 
the people leave off their black and appear in gay 
holiday attire. 

These observances still exist, although the 
power of the church has been broken. Priests 
and nuns are forbidden to appear in the streets in 
their characteristic dress, on penalty of impris- 
onment, but the people still show them great ado- 
ration. We one day saw the people all kneeling 
as a bishop descended from his carriage, and often 
saw young men kiss the hand of a priest with 
greatest adulation. Formerly there were frequent 
religious processions, in which some image was 
carried through the streets, and everybody was 
required to remain kneeling while it passed, but 
this kept the people on their knees the greater 



270 THE MEXICAN PASSION-PLA K 

portion of the time, and interfered so seriously 
with business that the processions were finally- 
abolished. 

As it was Lent there were few amusements in 
the city, the theatres all being closed, but on 
Palm Sunday at one of them the Passion Play was 
given, and after some debate we decided to go. 
It seemed to us that the natural environment of 
the play there, the character and religion of the 
people, and the spirit with which it would be 
given and witnessed would make it an entirely 
different affair from the same play anywhere else 
in the world save in Oberammergau itself, where 
it is purely a matter of religion, a holy and sacred 
rite on the part of all the participants. In this 
opinion we were not disappointed, and were very 
glad we witnessed the play, for it was most im- 
pressive throughout — a v/onderful commentary 
on the Bible narrative. 

The play began at four o'clock in the afternoon 
and lasted until after nine o'clock. It was in 
seven acts, and the waits between were quite 
long ; still it was not wearisome. Each scene had 
a solemnity about it that kept the audience under 
a spell so that the intervals were not noticed, the 



A PERFECT PICTURE. 2/1 

mind being fully occupied with what had been 
presented. 

The whole effect of the play was very similar 
to that produced by looking at pictures upon the 
same subject, although far more impressive. The 
costumes, attitudes and scenes were copied with 
the greatest faithfulness from the paintings of the 
great artists. For instance, " The Last Supper " 
was a living embodiment of the well-known pic- 
ture of Da Vinci, faithful to the smallest detail. 
In all the scenes it was remarkable how closely the 
faces of all the actors resembled those made famil- 
iar to everybody by these paintings, and there is 
no doubt but that these people, belonging, as we 
have reason to believe, to an Oriental race, are by 
natural endowment and cast of features better 
adapted than almost any other, certainly better 
than the German race, to enact this play. 

The dialogue was, of course, all in Spanish, a 
beautiful and quite faithful rendering of the Bible 
account, and the fact that we could not understand 
the whole perfectly only served to heighten the 
effect, enough being understood to keep the mind 
fully acquainted with the progress of the action, 
and not enough to detract from the high concep- 



2^2 MISSIONS IN MEXICO, 

tion of the scene. In some instances there were 
no words spoken, particularly in the scene of the 
crucifixion — the most powerful of all, a scene 
wonderfully realistic and most impressive. 

In the whole play from beginning to end there 
was nothing that could be discordant or disagree- 
able to the most religious person. Quite the 
contrary : the whole seemed more weighty and 
powerful than any sermon could be on the same 
subject. Still it does not in the least follow that 
its production in this country should be encour- 
aged or supported ; for, although most fitting and 
effectual among the simple people, who attended 
with reverence and religious feelings, it would be 
an entirely different thing in this country and 
among our mixed population. In Mexico the play 
was in its proper setting, but here it would not be. 
There it was a religious act, here it would be sac- 
rilege. 

Since 1862 there have been Protestant missions 
in Mexico, and they now number fifteen. The 
work was at first very slow and discouraging, and 
met with great opposition, even so much that the 
lives of Protestants were in great danger, but 
the missions are now quite well established. In 



THE ''CALENDAR STONED 2^1 

the City of Mexico there are ten Protestant con- 
gregations, three of which hold services every 
Sunday in EngHsh. 

Many curious remains have been unearthed in 
the spot where the cathedral now stands, and 
where the Aztec temple once stood. Among 
them is the famous " calendar stone " of the 
Aztecs, supposed to have been used in computing 
time, although this is not certain. It is a large 
stone, weighing twenty-six tons, hewn out of basalt 
from distant quarries, and completely covered with 
sculpture, attesting to the skill of the Aztecs. It 
is now inserted in the side of the present cathe- 
dral. In the " zocalo " is a rockery composed of 
lava from the volcano and of idols dug out of this 
spot — idols of various forms and sizes, making a 
curious collection. 

Prescott describes a visit which Cortez made to 
the old heathen temple at Montezuma's invitation. 
The temple or ''teocalli," as it was called, is 
described as pyramidal, built of stone, and with 
five stories, decreasing in size. The ascent was 
made by a flight of steps on the outside and was 
so tiresome that Montezuma provided priests to 
carry himself and Cortez, but the latter refused 



274 THE TEMPLE OF SACRIFICE. 

the offer, preferring to march at the head of his 
men, saying, "The Spaniards are never weary." 
On the summit they found a vast area paved with 
stones, and had a magnificent view of the city and 
surroundings, so magnificent that Cortez could 
not restrain his excessive admiration. 

Montezuma showed them the gods of the Aztecs 
and the implements used in their worship. There 
was the sacrificial stone of jasper, nine feet high 
and twenty-seven feet in circumference. On this 
stone, it is said, upwards of sixty thousand victims 
were sacrificed, the heart being cut out of the 
living victim by the priest and offered to the 
god of war. Many of the brave Spaniards met 
this fate, for all who could be taken alive were 
thus sacrificed. They were shown also the circu- 
lar drum, of serpents' skins, whose melancholy 
sound was the signal to arouse the whole city to 
arms, and which not long afterward, when the 
siege of Mexico had begun, smote on the ears of 
the Spaniards like a death knell. Then they were 
taken into the sanctuaries of the gods, the principal 
one being "Huitzilopotxtli," god of war, a colossal, 
hideous image, his chief ornament being a chain 
of gold and silver hearts about his neck, while on 



THE NATIONAL PALACE. 2/5 

the altar before him lay three human hearts just 
torn from their victims. They saw other altars 
and sanctuaries, and were horrified at the sight of 
this pdgan worship. They declared "the stench 
was more intolerable than that of the slaughter- 
houses in Castile, and the frantic forms of priests, 
with their dark robes clotted with blood, as they 
flitted to and fro, seemed to be the very ministers 
of Satan." 

The entire east side of the Plaza is occupied by 
the National Palace or government building, capa- 
ble, it is said, of lodging ten thousand persons. It 
is open to visitors on application to the Governor. 
The troops are reviewed every morning in front of 
this building, and an appearance of power and 
authority is always maintained by guards at fre- 
quent intervals. There was quite a military dis- 
play in the city while we were there, as it was 
the time of the troubles in Guatemala, to which 
troops were being sent, and companies of sol- 
diers frequently paraded the streets with bands 
of music. 

When we had the courage to run the gauntlet 
of haggling peddlers we used to walk the length 
of the " portales " and gaze with wonder and curi- 



2/6 PETTY MERCHANTS, 

osity on the various little shops standing as thick 
as possible on both sides. In our large cities we 
have many stands and petty merchants, but noth- 
ing to compare with Mexico. There, if a man 
possesses one article, he will set himself up for a 
merchant. A fellow importuned us one day to 
buy of him a canary bird which he held in his 
hand. Often a gilt mirror or a cheap picture 
would bear the sign " se vende " (for sale), and 
this one article would constitute the man's sole 
stock in trade. Some of the stands, in fact, most, 
of them, have a variety of goods, not even sur- 
passed by the " Old Curiosity Shop." For instance, 
there would be candy, old iron, fruit, lace, spurs 
and bits, ribbon, beads, Aztec idols, knives and 
forks, crosses, amulets, and dolls, all in one con- 
fused array at the same little stand. Just as in 
Guatemala, you must always haggle with the mer- 
chant and give him less than half his first price. 
But the peddlers who go about the streets are 
the most annoying, and it is quite as hard to 
get rid of them as of a beggar, — "No," and 
"I do not want it," making no impression what- 
ever, unless it be to redouble their efforts. We 
must give one or two examples of the experiences 



HAGGLING. 2/7 

of this kind that we had to undergo many times a 
day. 

A boy meets us with tortoise-shell combs and 
asks us to buy. They are really a very nice 
article, and we inquire the price. 

'* Diez y seis reales " (^2.00), the boy answers. 

"No; that is too much." 

"Doce reales" (^1.50). 

''Too much. I don't want it." 

More earnestly, '' Ocho reales" (^i.oo). 

"No; I don't want it," and we turn to gt 
away. 

Then he eagerly asks, " How much will yov 
give?" 

" Cuatro reales " (50 cents). 

Whereupon, to our own surprise, the boy imme 
diately closes the bargain, and we have his two 
dollar comb for fifty cents. 

Another time we are met by a man with canet, 
to sell. 

We shake our heads and say, " No, no," a*^ 
emphatically as possible, and walk on ; but h'^ 
follows us, trying to get us to look at his canec, 
and giving us the prices, five and six dollars. We 
say that is very dear (" muy caro "). He comies 
down dollar after dollar, and we keep saying " No," 



2/8 INJURED INNOCENCE. 

and that we do not want his canes, but he pay^j 
not the shghtest attention and seems the more 
determined to sell us one because we declare we 
do not want it. Then comes the invariable ques- 
tion, " How much will you give ? " We answer 
emphatically that '* We do not want any canes at 
any price " ; but that does not in the least discour- 
age him. Finally, after he has followed us the 
whole length of the street and repeated the same 
questions over and over, we decide to make him an 
offer that will silence him, and, in sheer despera- 
tion, say we will give a "medio." At that he 
turns on his heel and walks off with such a look 
of injured innocence, disgust, and astonishment 
that we almost repent our own escape. That a 
sane person could be capable of such audacity as 
to offer five cents for a five-dollar article is evi- 
dently more than he had ever imagined possible 
even for an American. 

This method, although not entirely satisfactory 
to ourselves, was the only one we ever found that 
was at all effectual. When all other experiments 
failed we turned to this as a final resort, and would 
commend it to all travellers in Mexico who have 
the courage to bear the sad effect produced on th^ 
zealous peddler, 



CHAPTER XX. 

RAMBLES ABOUT THE CITY. 

Near the Plaza is situated the market, which, 
as we have before stated, is always an interesting 
place to visit in these countries. This market was 
more crowded than any we had ever seen ; in fact, 
it was almost impossible to make one's way about 
among the people and the wares which thickly 
covered the ground. 

But most interesting of all to us were the 
bright, black-eyed boys, of ten or twelve, whose 
business it is to carry purchases in the bas- 
kets which they bear on their heads. As soon 
as our party of four entered, we were at once 
besought by six or seven of these little fellows 
who looked upon us as desirable patrons, — for 
Americans have a great reputation among them 
for being rich, and it is as easy in Mexico to 
recognize an American as for us to recognize a 
Chinaman in our streets. We observed this fact 
279 



28o A TOUCH OF NATURE. 

with interest, and could not only distinguish a 
party of Americans as soon as we saw them, but 
could almost tell by their appearance just how 
long they had been in Mexico, and to what place 
of interest they were then going. 

But to return to the boys. Never in their lives 
have they known what play is. As soon as they 
could walk, they began to work ; but still, the fun 
and mischief inherent in the boy nature was 
there, and, with bright faces and laughing eyes, 
they eagerly looked up at us, and all talking to- 
gether as fast as possible, entreated us to hire them. 
We declared we did not need their services, but 
they only redoubled their efforts, and talked away 
in such a lively, good-natured manner that we 
smiled, too, in spite of our attempts to look severe. 
My father got impatient over the delay — for not 
understanding a word he failed to see the fun — 
and said, "Why don't you send them away.^* If 
I could speak Spanish I would get rid of those 
boys." How many times a day every impatient 
American in Mexico makes this remark ! If he 
"could speak Spanish," he thinks he could 
reform the country ; could turn slow-going Mex- 
ico into enterprising Boston ; make the waiters 



SNAIL-PACED MEXICO. 28 1 

jump to do his bidding, and the servants bound 
at his call. But he might just as well think 
of making a snail go at a hare's pace. Mexico is 
slow and the Mexicans are slow, and will be in 
spite of all that Americans speaking Spanish, 
English, or any other language can do to make 
them otherwise ; and as nothing except their ill- 
will can be gained by impatience and anger, you 
might just as well when you are there resign your- 
self to their easy, careless ways, give up New 
England push and hurry, and in this way only 
really enjoy Mexico. 

But that remark, " If I could speak Spanish," 
roused two of us, who really pretended we could, 
to vindicate ourselves and redeem our reputation ; 
so we summoned all our knowledge and dignity 
and bade the boys go away, but they only laughed 
the more and talked the faster, in such a merry 
way that we laughed too, and let them follow us 
about as long as they wished. One among them 
never deserted us, never failed to see us as soon 
as we entered, and lingered after the others had 
gone, even until we left the market. He had a 
bright, pleasant face that we shall always remem- 
ber, and we are perfectly confident that, with the 



282 AN UNWEEDED GARDEN. 

advantages of education and training, he would be 
a superior man. Those of the Mexicans who have 
come north to be educated have shown marked 
ability. We know of two in particular, who came 
not understanding a word of English, and soon 
surpassed all others in the school they attended, 
winning the highest prizes for scholarship. But 
this boy who so interested us, will never have the 
advantages of an education, and it is truly sad to 
think of him, and multitudes of others, without 
any chance in life to improve and develop their 
God-given powers. 

In the most beautiful faces of men and women, 
— and nowhere can there be seen more beau- 
tiful faces, — we remarked this lack, which made 
their beauty simply physical, wanting in the truest 
requisites. The children, however, before they 
have lost their youthful innocence and grace, are 
truly beautiful, but time brings to them no added 
wisdom or spirituality. 

We once saw a child, a girl of five or six years, 
who certainly had the loveliest face we had ever 
seen — a face lovely enough for one of Raphael's 
angels. With her was her mother, who, as we saw 
from the regularity of her features, was once just 



THE BEAUTY OF MEXICAN WOMEN. 283 

as fair, but, though still young, she had lost the 
grace of childhood and gained nothing in intelli- 
gence, or strength of character. Fiom a beautiful 
child she had become, as her looks indicated, an 
ordinary vapid woman, and such would the child 
before us become in her turn. The Mexican 
women, like the women of other Spanish coun- 
tries, are noted for their beauty, but it is of short 
duration, for they begin to fade as soon as mar- 
ried, which is very young, and are old at thirty. 
The majority of them, too, judging from those we 
saw, use so much paint and powder that they 
completely conceal what natural beauty they do 
have. The universality of this foolish practice, 
and the extent to which it is carried, has no par- 
allel in any country in which we have ever been. 
It seemed to us, comparing the two countries, 
that Guatemala was noticeable for its handsome 
women, Mexico for its magnificent looking men. 

One day while* in the city we spent in shopping, 
particularly for curiosities, for there are several 
articles of Mexican production as yet but little 
known. Among them is the feather-work already 
mentioned. The Indians, with the real feathers, 
fashion on a card a perfect representation of birds 



284 ARTISTIC HANDIWORK. 

of every kind known to them. The skill shown in 
making these beautiful objects is remarkable, and 
the process is a secret unknown save to a few, who 
guard it jealously as a sacred legacy from their 
Aztec ancestors. Another relic of the old days 
is the " rag figures," most life-like representa- 
tions of every class of society, and considered 
by many to surpass the best work of the Chinese 
or Japanese. There is also to tempt the tour- 
ist the filagree silver-work, in which the Mexi- 
cans excel ; the opals of greatest variety ; the 
beautiful onyx, which is polished and shaped into 
various forms ; and numerous little idols, supposed 
to have been made by the old Aztecs, but in many 
cases imitations but a few days old. 

One of the most interesting places in the city 
to visit is the "Grand National Museum." The 
court of this building is very beautiful, with flow- 
ers and trees, and in the midst of it is the great 
sacrificial stone, already mentioned as used by the 
Aztecs in their pagan worship. It is an immense 
stone, weighing many tons, and completely covered 
with curious carving, which must have required 
great skill and labor. In the centre is a hollow 
well, from which a canal runs to the edge of the 



THE GRAND NATIONAL MUSEUM. 285 

stone, evidently for the purpose of conveying away 
the blood of the victim. Standing behind this 
stone is the old image of the war-god, to whom 
these sacrifices were made, — a huge, hideous, 
shapeless figure, cut out of solid rock. 

In a room off this court we saw the gilded coach 
of Maximilian. While we were looking at it some 
Indians from the country were gazing at it with 
wonder and admiration. They had come into the 
city to celebrate some feast day, and strangely 
enough, as it seemed to us, were visiting the 
museum. Ascending the stairs, we found quite 
an extensive museum, containing a most interest- 
ing and valuable collection. Besides the mineral, 
animal, and vegetable products of the country are 
many curiosities ; portraits of the old Spanish 
viceroys, among them that of Cortez ; the banner 
and other relics of the great conqueror, and the 
suit of armor worn by his lieutenant Alvarado ; 
the rich silver plate of Maximilian ; Aztec idols ; 
pottery, pictures of ruins, and much that is valua- 
ble and interesting to the archaeologist for its 
antiquity and the skill it shows the Aztecs to 
have possessed. The Indians we have mentioned 
seemed to regard us with quite as much interest as 



2S6 THE ACADEMY OF SAN CARLOS. 

anything in the museum, and showed a great de- 
sire to talk with us. They followed us about, 
calling our attention to whatever was to them 
especially noticeable, and the amount of under- 
standing and appreciation that they showed in all 
they saw was quite surprising. 

Another notable institution is the Academy of 
San Carlos, built in the reign of Charles III. of 
Spain. It contains fine specimens of paintings, 
statuary, and steel engravings. There are works 
of Leonardo da Vinci, Murillo, Van Dycke, and 
Canova, besides fine paintings by old and modern 
Mexican artists, among whom is Velasco, who has 
taken the beautiful valley of Mexico for his sub- 
ject, and has produced some very fine landscapes. 
While we were being shown about, an old gentle- 
man came and talked with us, one who evidently 
had a love and appreciation for pictures, and great 
pride in the place. The academy seemed to be a 
school for artists, and we were really surprised at 
the interest and advancement this nation had evi- 
dently made in art. 

Another building attesting to the advancement 
of Mexico and interest in education is the School 
of Mines, for the purpose of giving a particular 



THE N-ATIONAL PAWN-SHOP. 28/ 

knowledge on the subject of mining. The build- 
ing, called one of the finest in Mexico, cost two 
million dollars, and is the one in which Grant was 
entertained. It has a fine and extensive collection 
of rocks, minerals, and fossils, belonging to 
Mexico ; but a lack of system in the arrangement 
of the specimens was most noticeable. The 
Mexicans do not seem to pay as much attention 
to classification as we do. 

One place in which we were disappointed was 
the National Pawn-Shop, situated opposite the 
cathedral, and one of the oldest houses in the 
city, once the residence of Cortez. The guide^ 
book says: "Pearls, rubies, emeralds, and dia- 
monds in great numbers dazzle the visitor's sight," 
and we went several times to see the rich trea- 
sures supposed to be stored there, but without 
seeing anything of special interest. We made 
inquiries each time of the uniformed official at 
the door if there was not more to see, and he 
invariably told us to come ''manana." Indeed, in 
our sight-seeing this word was continually bring- 
ing us to a standstill and defeating our plans. It 
is a word that the traveller in Mexico soon learns ; 
for he hears it continually. We had the follow- 
ing experience near the close of our stay, when 



28S PROCRASTINA TION. 

we felt that time was precious. We visited the 
pawn-shop first in search of some souvenir or 
curios, but, as usual, were told to come " ma- 
nana." Then we went to the academy of San 
Carlos, where, having a permit from the palace, we 
were admitted, but strongly advised by the old 
gentleman in attendance to come " manana," be- 
cause then the artists would be at liberty, and 
would be pleased to talk with us about the pictures. 
To prevent ourselves from being sent away, we 
had to protest that we should leave Mexico "to- 
morrow," and should not have another opportunity 
to come. Going next to the " Money Exchange," 
we found it closed, as well as many of the princi- 
pal stores, and, inquiring of an American, elicited 
the expected answer that they were closed be- 
cause it was a feast day, and would not be open 
until to-moi'row. We next proceeded to one of 
the bathing establishments, for which Mexico is 
noted, supposing of course that they would be 
open always, but at one after another all the satis- 
faction we could get was "■ manana," " manana," 
and we were obliged to go to five before we could 
gain admittance. That night, on returning to the 
hotel, we inquired for our laundry, which should 
baye been there the day before, and the smiling 



A SONG OF TO-MORROW. 289 

clerk assured us in the most hopeful tone that the 
washwoman would come " manana sin falta" (to- 
morrow without fail), but when we saw that laun- 
dry again we had been home fully one week. It 
was not brought back to the hotel until after our 
departure, and travelled all the way from Mexico a 
few days behind us, a silent but able witness of 
the procrastinating and dilatory character of Mex- 
ico and of "manana," the halcyon Spanish time — 
the time that never comes but is always coming, 
the time that never was but will always be. 
" Manana" the Mexican will see you on business ; 
" manana" your Spanish friend will keep his ap- 
pointment ; "manana" the servants will execute 
your commands ; to-morrow you can have every- 
thing you wish, but to-day nothing. " No time like 
the present " is transformed by the Spanish into, 
"no time like to-morrow." They work, plan, exe- 
cute " manana," but rest, eat, sleep, and take their 
ease to-day. More true of them even than of us 
are the words of Shakespeare : — 

To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow 
Creeps on its petty pace from day to day, 
To the last syllable of recorded time ; 
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
The way to dusty death. 



CHAPTER XXL 

EXCURSIONS IN THE SUBURBS. 

By taking a trip in any line of horse-cars start- 
ing from the Plaza, a very delightful excursion can 
be made, in the midst always of beautiful scenery 
and curious sights. Of these excursions we will 
mention but few. 

One day we went to the " Shrine of Guada- 
lupe," about three miles distant from the city, the 
most sacred place of worship in the country ; so 
sacred that some devotees crawl all the way from 
the City of Mexico on their hands and knees to 
visit it. On a steep hill stands the chapel 
dedicated to the Virgin Mary, who is believed to 
have appeared on this spot to a poor Indian shep- 
herd, and commanded him to go to the bishop 
and tell her wish that a church be built. The 
bishop was skeptical until the Virgin had appeared 
several times, caused flowers to spring up miracu- 
lously, and finally stamped her image on the 
290 



THE SHRINE OF GUADALUPE. 29 1 

Indian's blanket. Then he was convinced, and a 
chapel was built on the hill and a magnificent 
church, costing eight hundred thousand dollars, on 
the plain below, one of the objects of interest 
in the church being an altar-rail of pure silver, 
worth several thousand dollars. 

It was a long climb, by winding stone steps, to 
the top of the hill, but we were rewarded with a 
fine view. In front of the chapel is a strange 
monument in the form of a mast and sails carved 
from stone, the gift of a sailor who escaped ship- 
wreck at sea ; and in the chapel are numerous 
offerings testifying to miraculous cures ; even the 
blanket is there, with the image stamped upon it, 
to convince all disbelievers. Behind the church 
is a burying-ground, and fabulous sums are paid to 
be buried here. Among other graves is that of 
Santa Anna. 

Another day, starting off in a different direc- 
tion, we had a delightful ride through several of 
the suburban towns, and visited the historic tree 
of "la noche triste," — the tree under which 
Cortez is said to have encamped after the disaster 
to his army on that sad night when he was obliged 
to flee from the City of Mexico with such terrible 



292 ''THE TREE OF THE SAD NIGHTS 

loss. The tree is one of the cypresses which in 
Mexico attain such enormous size, has a knotted 
gnarled trunk of huge proportions, and gives abun- 
dant proof of its age. It is now surrounded by 
an iron fence, on account of attempts of the In- 
dians to destroy it in order to show their hatred 
of the Spaniards. The events of the "sad night" 
are described by Prescott in the most graphic 
manner. 

On the death of Montezuma, the only tie be- 
tween the Spaniards and the natives was broken, 
and the Spaniards were obliged to evacuate the 
city. They chose a dark night, when all was wrapt 
in silence, and began their march as noiselessly as 
possible ; but as they reached the canal and were 
laying their portable bridge, which would bring 
them in comparative safety on the other shore, 
" several Indian sentinels, who had been stationed 
there, took the alarm and fled, rousing their coun- 
trymen by their cries. The priests, keeping night 
watch on the summit of the 'teocallis,' instantly 
caught the tidings and sounded their shells, while 
the huge drum of serpent skins, in the desolate tem- 
ple of the war-god, sent forth those solemn notes 
which, heard only in seasons of calamity, vibrated 



A DISASTROUS RETREAT. 293 

through every corner of the capital. The Span- 
iards saw there was no time to be lost. But 
before they could cross, a gathering sound was 
heard like that of a mighty forest agitated by the 
winds. It grew louder and louder, while on the 
dark waters of the lake was heard a splashing 
noise as of many oars. Then came stones and 
arrows falling every moment faster and more 
furious, till they thickened into a terrible tempest, 
while the very heavens were rent with yells and 
war cries of myriads of combatants who seemed 
all at once to be swarming over land and lake." 

"The carnage raged fearfully all along the 
length of the causeway." Confusion and disor- 
der reigned supreme, and the voice of Cortez was 
lost in the great uproar. Many of the cavaliers 
plunged into the water, and some succeeded in 
swimming across, but many were cut down by the 
Aztecs, or dragged on board their canoes to meet 
a worse death on the sacrificial stone; or, reaching 
the bank, were rolled headlong down the steep. 
At the third breach Alvarado is said to have per- 
formed his wonderful feat of " clearing the wide 
gap at a leap," so remarkable an achievement that 
the Indians gave him the name "Tonatiuh" (the 



294 ALVAR ADO'S LEAP. 

child of the sun). The spot where this occurred 
is now a street called " El Salto de Alvarado " 
(Alvarado's leap), and the conductor pointed it out 
to us as we passed it. 

Cortez and a portion of his army escaped, and 
reached the village of Popotla, where they halted. 
It is said that Cortez, although accustomed to con- 
ceal his feelings, covered his face with his hands, 
and wept as he looked in vain for some of his 
bravest cavaliers, and beheld the disabled and 
disordered company — all that was left of his once 
proud and powerful army. That after this he 
could ever return and conquer this great empire 
seemed almost incredible, and ranks with the 
great exploits of romance. 

At the southeast end of the city there is a rem- 
nant of the "fair Venice of the Aztecs" in the 
Viga canal, with its floating gardens leading to the 
lakes Chalco and Xochimilco. At the place where 
the canal enters the city the scene, especially in 
the morning, is a busy and interesting one, the 
water being covered with flat-bottomed boats 
poled by Indians and loaded with vegetables and 
flowers. Very often there is a flower-show here, 
and the Indians, who have retained the old Aztec 



JOY AND SUNSHINE. 295 

characteristic of love of flowers, expose for sale 
most beautiful bouquets, as artistic as those of our 
best florists ; large bouquets of roses, which here 
would sell for five or six dollars, being sold 
there for twenty-five or thirty-seven and a half 
cents. Along the canal is a fine avenue lined on 
both sides with large trees, and at these flower- 
shows this avenue is filled with coaches and horse- 
men, composing the elite of the town. There are 
many fanciful booths trimmed with palm leaves 
and poppies ; two bands of music play alternately, 
and the street is thronged with a gay company. 
The whole scene betokens a holiday festivity, and 
one such occasion with us would be considered 
gayety enough for a period of years, but the Mexi- 
cans repeat them almost every week, such a land 
is theirs for mirth and music, for flowers and fruit, 
for joy and sunshine ! 

There are numerous boats, with awnings and 
cushioned seats, to be engaged at fifty cents or 
one dollar an hour, for an excursion up the canal. 
These are poled by Indians, and remind one 
somewhat of the gondolas of Venice. We se- 
lected one from the numerous boatmen who 
eagerly sought our patronage, and were soon 



296 UNDER A SPELL. 

gently gliding over the smooth water. It was a 
perfect day, as were all our days in Mexico ; the 
sky was bright, cloudless, and beautifully blue, and 
the whole atmosphere was pervaded by such peace 
and quiet as must have reigned in the Garden of 
Eden. The most careless and unappreciative 
person could not fail to come under the spell, and 
banish for the time all thought of the world and 
its strife. 

As we glided on we passed fine avenues of trees 
and queer old adobe villages, unchanged in the 
lapse of time. We ourselves were the only fea- 
ture of the scene that did not belong to ages 
past ; for in the reign of Montezuma these same 
towns stood here, the same willows grew on the 
banks, and just such boats, loaded with vegetables 
and flowers, and poled by Indians with precisely 
the same appearance, passed up and down this 
canal. Where else in the world can be found a 
more interesting primitive scene 1 And, although 
we wish for this land all the advancement that 
civilization can bring, still we would stay the hand 
of progress and preserve yet many years Mexico's 
pristine characteristics that make it so quaint, 
so strange, so fascinating ! 



FLOATING GARDENS. ^C)'/ 

We made our first stop at the adobe village of 
Santa Anita, which, with the exception of a school- 
house and church, is unchanged since the time of 
Cortez. The whole appearance was very strange, 
unlike any Indian town we had yet seen. Here we 
took another boat and were poled about awhile 
among the famous " chinampas," or floating gar- 
dens, our Indian stopping at some of them and 
picking flowers for us until we had all our hands 
could hold. 

These gardens — one of the wonders of Aztec 
civilization — were constructed by the Aztecs in 
their poverty of land, and were made as follows : 
They bound together reeds, rushes, and bushes 
into a raft, and on this placed sediment from the 
bottom of the lake, and strips of turf, until gradu- 
ally an island was formed three hundred or four 
hundred feet long and three or four feet deep. 
Sometimes willow poles were driven through the 
islands into the ground, and these poles, taking 
root, helped to hold the land more securely. In 
the process of time many of these islands have 
become solid, as were these at Santa Anita, but 
farther up the lakes are others, more recently 
formed, that properly deserve the term ** floating." 



298 OUR LAST INDIAN BREAKFAST. 

It is said that criminals have sometimes escaped 
their pursuers by diving under these islands. 

There were never more ideal gardens than 
these ; for, with a rich soil, a hot sun above, and 
plenty of water at the very roots of the plants, all 
the requirements for a luxuriant growth are ful- 
filled. They are certainly a beautiful sight, and we 
could appreciate the feeling of the conquerors when 
they first beheld these "wandering islands of ver- 
dure" — a scene so new and wonderful that it 
seemed like "enchantment." 

Leaving Santa Anita we went on a little farther 
amidst the same scenes, and stopped for breakfast 
at a queer old town where there was an inn, or 
"posada," with summer-houses, a garden of beauti- 
ful flowers, and a hall for dancing, sometimes used 
by parties coming out from the city. We thought, 
to make the day complete, we really ought to eat an 
Indian breakfast ; besides, we wanted to show our 
friends how we fared in Guatemala ; so, scorning 
beefsteak and other civilized dishes which the 
landlord offered, we ordered frijoles, tortillas, 
fried eggs, and coffee. As our friends tasted 
their breakfast rather carefully and reluctantly, we 
said, " How would you like this fare for ten days ? " 



CHAPULTEPEC. 299 

and then, if not before, we appeared in their eyes 
in something the character of heroes. 

At this point we had to decide the question 
whether we should go on toward the lakes or 
return to the city, and began to interview our 
boatman on the subject, the conversation with 
him being one of those amusing experiences of 
which we had so many. He talked Spanish so 
fast and so indistinctly, that it took the combined 
efforts of two of us to get his meaning, and the 
debate was a long and earnest one. Finally, as- 
certaining that it was so far to the lakes that we 
should have to remain all night in an Indian vil- 
lage (a far less desirable place in Mexico than 
Guatemala), we decided to return to the city and 
finish the excursion at another time. 

The crowning glory of all our journey was our 
visit to Chapultepec, that famous castle built by 
the Spaniards on the site of the palace of Monte- 
zuma. The castle is reached by one of the finest 
boulevards in the world — the " Paseo de la Re- 
forma" — about two miles in length, a broad, 
straight, smooth drive, bounded on both sides by 
fine avenues of trees, and adorned with beautiful 
statua;;v: the first, a fine equestrian statue of 



300 A FINE BOULEVARD. 

Charles IV. of Spain, the first bronze ever cast in 
this hemisphere ; the second, a monument to Co- 
lumbus, consisting of five figures, the largest and 
upper being the great discover, and the others the 
princiDal Spanish missionaries ; and the third, a 
statue not yet completed, in honor of *' Guatimo- 
zin," the last of the Aztec emperors. 

Every moment of the drive was a perfect de- 
light. At the end of the boulevard, the carriage 
wound around the steep hill to the top, where 
stands the castle. The hill is of porphyry, and 
has a grove of cypress trees hung with festoons of 
Spanish moss. These cypresses are remarkable 
for their beauty and size, being over a hundred feet 
in height, and fifty feet in cirumference. 

The place is by nature a strong fortification, 
and it was the last defence to be taken in Scott's 
campaign against Mexico. As we looked down 
upon the steep, rocky hillside, we wondered how 
the American army ever scaled that height as they 
did under fire. Just below, in the grove, is a beau- 
tiful monument to the Mexican cadets who fell in 
this battle, and back of the castle can be seen the 
battle-field of '' Molino del Rey," where a skirmish 
occurred before the storming of Chapultepec. 



A SPANISH CASTLE. 30 1 

The castle was built at the close of the seven- 
teenth century, and has been the favorite residence 
of the Spanish viceroys, of Maximilian, and of 
the 'Mexican presidents, and it was then being 
repaired and remodelled for President Diaz. The 
military school is here, and the place is often 
called the " West Point " of Mexico. One of our 
party remarked, '' If this is not a ' castle in Spain ' 
it is the next thing to it, a Spanish castle " ; 
and we thought of George William Curtis' delight- 
ful chapter, entitled "My Chateaux," and of all 
the airy structures his characters built, and felt 
if they could be there with us they would surely 
say they had at last seen something quite as fair 
as their own "castles in Spain." 

We entered the building and wandered through 
the spacious rooms, broad balconies and gardens, 
having at every point a view of transcendent 
beauty — a view which we believe is unsurpassed 
by any in the world. Our friends, just from a 
seven months' tour in Europe, declared they had 
never seen anything more beautiful than this, — 
the peaceful valley of Mexico, green and smiling 
under a summer sky, waving with yellow corn and 
tropical trees, and dotted with Indian villages. 



302 A LOVELY VALLEY. 

In the near distance was the great capital, with its 
white domes and towers ; farther away were the 
blue lakes of Chalco and Tecuzco ; and surround- 
ing the whole valley was the great chain of 
mountains, among which rise the two majestic 
snow-crowned volcanoes of " Popocatapetl " and 
" Ixtaccihuatl." 

Of this view a fine description is given by Pres- 
cott, as the Spaniards first beheld it from the 
summit of a mountain, after a toilsome march : 
"The valley of Mexico, with its picturesque as- 
semblage of water, woodland, and cultivated plains, 
its shining cities and shadowing hills, was spread 
out like some gay and gorgeous panorama before 
them. In the highly rarefied atmosphere of these 
upper regions even remote objects have a bril- 
liancy of coloring and a distinctness of outline 
which seems to annihilate distance. Stretching 
far away at their feet were seen noble forests of 
oak, sycamore, and cedar, and beyond, yellow 
fields of maize and towering maguey, intermin- 
gled with orchards and blooming gardens. In the 
centre of the great basin were beheld the lakes, 
occupying then a much larger portion than at 
present ; their borders were thickly studded with 



A RESTFUL SCENE. 3^3 

towns and hamlets, and in the midst the fair City 
of Mexico, the far-famed Venice of the Aztecs. 
High over all rose the royal hill of Chapultepec, 
crowned with the same grove of gigantic cypresses 
which at this day fling their broad shadows over 
the land, and still farther on the dark belt of 
porphyry, girding the valley around like a rich set- 
ting, which nature had devised for the fairest of 
her jewels." 

In the course of time, with the recession and 
evaporation of the lakes, the landscape has lost 
some of its original beauty, but even now ''no 
traveller, however cold, can gaze on it with any 
other emotions than those of astonishment and 
rapture." 

One of the most striking characteristics of the 
scene is the quiet serenity pervading the whole. 
Spenser might well have chosen it for his Palace 
of Morpheus, for : — 

" No noyse nor peoples troublous cryes, 
As still are won't t' anoy the walled towne. 
Might there be heard ; but careles Quiet lyes, 
Wrapt in eternal silence, farre from enimyes." 

It would remind one, too, of the '' Happy Valley 
of Rasselas," which the prince and princess left to 



304 ' A TRYSTING PLACE. 

wander about the world in vain search for happi- 
ness, to return at last to their own valley again, 
convinced that nowhere else was happiness to be 
found. 

Hardly a spot in the world, save the Alhambra 
itself, could be more fraught with romantic associ- 
ations, or could stir more the sentiments and imagi- 
nation. *' What a place for love's young dream ! " 
even our practical party could not help exclaim- 
ing, and felt that to make the scene complete we 
should have brought with us the fair Bertha and 
the young doctor, two of our fellow-travellers and 
hotel companions, v^ho were carrying on a love 
affair, as we supposed, although it afterward proved 
a very harmless flirtation. But indulgence in 
revery and sentimentality was not long continued, 
for two of the party, on thrift intent, remembered 
that the carriage was waiting, and called out, 
" Come, we can't pay fifty cents an hour for 
any more romancmg." 



CHAPTER XXII. 

HOMEWARD BOUND. 

Besides the places of interest already de- 
scribed, there are many more both in and about 
the capital, and one could easily spend a month in 
constant sight-seeing with both pleasure and 
profit ; for wherever one turns he can find some- 
thing new and strange, something which makes 
him wish to linger, and which, when he has left, 
he longs to see again. The very air seems teeming 
with antiquity. It is never crisp and fresh as in a 
bright autumnal day in New England, and seems 
to say, " I was here years ago when the red man 
alone dwelt in this valley ; I vibrated to the thun- 
derings of the mighty arms of Cortez and his ava- 
ricious host, and echoed their shouts of victory ; 
I have brooded over all the uprisings and strifes 
of tumultuous Mexico, and now envelop it in 
peace as it looks forward to advancement and 
a higher civilization." 

305 



30^ LEAVING MEXICO. 

Still, although there was much that tempted us 
to linger, longings for home and friends from 
whom we had been so long parted were each day 
becoming stronger and stronger, and almost as 
suddenly as we left Vera Cruz we decided to leave 
the City of Mexico. Accordingly, one Thursday 
evening we said good-bye to our friends, who were 
to remain a little longer, and left the city at eight 
o'clock by the Mexican Central Railroad. That 
first night we were passing through one of the dan- 
gerous portions of Mexico ; the train went very 
slowly, and a constant watch was kept for obstruc- 
tions on the track. We were told that a night 
rarely passed that the engineer was not obliged to 
stop and roll off the track great stones or other 
obstacles placed there for the destruction of the 
train. Still, as yet, there has not been a single 
accident on this road. 

. The next day we were travelling on broad table- 
lands, through extensive "haciendas," and strange 
Mexican cities. There is probably no place in 
the world where stock-raising is conducted on a 
grander scale than on these plains. One ranch 
sometimes covers hundreds of square miles, and 
possesses ten and even a hundred thousand head 



BEGGARS AND PEDDLERS. 30/ 

of cattle. Such vast estates, of course, can only 
be surveyed on horseback. The Mexican herds- 
men pass about half their time in the saddle, 
are the boldest horsemen in the world, and the 
most expert in the use of the lasso. 

At every station were the same curious, inter- 
esting scenes we have already described, venders 
and beggars being as numerous as ever. The 
device my father employed to get rid of them, and 
also to take a little revenge, was to answer " ma- 
nana " to all their entreaties. This made some of 
them indignant, although not a few appreciated the 
joke, for these people are often remarkably quick. 

There is not the same display of military 
force on this road as on that from Vera Cruz, but 
at all the stations greatest care has to be exercised 
against thieves. Everything that it is possible for 
a man to lift has to be taken in at night and 
locked up. Before this was done, the people stole 
even the car-couplings. When the train stops for 
meals, either the conductor or porter has to stay 
in the car and keep watch, or lock all the doors, 
otherwise these Mexicans would enter and steal 
everything they could put their hands on, even to 
the brushes and towels in the toilet-room. 



308 A MINING DISTRICT, 

We took dinner at '' Aguas Calientes," so called 
from the hot springs found there. It is one of the 
prettiest cities in Mexico, with wide streets, and 
handsome plazas, and has a population of about 
forty thousand. 

That evening we reached Zacatecas, the centre 
of one of the great mining districts of Mexico. 
The grade is quite steep here, and from a ridge 
called the " Bufa," a fine view is had of this, one 
of the quaintest towns of Mexico, of the sur- 
rounding hills containing rich mines, and of the 
far-stretching plains below. In this city street 
cars are run in rather a novel fashion. Six mules 
are required to draw the cars to the top of the hill 
on which the city is situated, but at the top the 
mules are taken off and the car, full of passen- 
gers, is let loose to run down the hill by the force 
of gravitation. It must indeed be rather exciting 
to run down the steep hill in a horse-car at this 
rapid rate. 

The next morning dawned upon a desolate 
country, and all Saturday we travelled through 
what was little better than a desert, — a hot, dusty 
plain covered with sage, buffalo grass, and thorny 
gactus, with only rugged, dreary mountains visible 



IN THE DESERT. 30g 

in the distance. Occasionally we passed a stream 
or river where trees and a little grass made a 
veritable oasis in the desert. There were few 
people living in these dreary wastes, and we 
wondered that there were any. They of course 
lived in a wretched way, in hovels and dug-outs, 
with little to eat except the fruit of the cactus. 
The desolation of the country had been increasing 
since we left Mexico. The change even from the 
day before was great, and was strikingly shown 
in the simple fact that the price of oranges had 
advanced from one cent to five cents apiece. Of 
course, all provisions have to be brought here by 
the train, and the restaurants in which we had 
our meals were as unique as original, — old bag- 
gage-cars by the side of the track, into which we 
climbed by some wooden steps. 

In our Pullman, the passengers were nearly all 
Americans, and we became as well acquainted as 
if on board a steamer. We especially enjoyed con- 
versation with a Congressman from Vermont, and 
with a gentleman of Cuban family. 

Sunday morning we arrived in Paso del Norte, 
the last station in Mexico, where we received a 
visit from the custom-house officers, of whose strict- 



3IO CROSSIA^G THE FRONTIER. 

ness we had heard appalling stories, and we had 
to pay our first and only duty in the journey, — a 
duty on Mexican " curios," not, however, an ex- 
orbitant one. Leaving this station we crossed 
the Rio Grande and were at El Paso, Tex., where 
we were for the first time in many months under 
our own stars and stripes. We had left behind 
us the ''land of the Montezumas," — that land of 
*' sunny climes," of grand scenery, and of wondrous 
ruins ; we had left behind a people as unlike our- 
selves as is their country; a people just waking up 
from their dream of the past to take their place 
in the progress of to-day ; and we had left behind, 
too, their language, which, with all the rest and 
perhaps more than all the rest, had charmed us. 

Right here we must speak a word for the Span- 
ish language, which is not properly appreciated. 
It has not yet been adopted in schools, and recog- 
nized among students, as it seems to us it should 
be, on an equality with French and German ; but 
a movement has already started in this direction ; 
and now that there is such an outlook for increased 
commercial relations between the United States 
and Spanish-speaking countries, particularly Mex- 
ico, it will doubtless soon take its place as a study 



THE IMPORTANCE OF SPANISH. S^I 

quite as useful and far more pleasing, as we be- 
lieve, than the other two. 

Its importance and the extent to which it is 
spoken are by no means fully realized. It is gen- 
erally thought of as confined to the small and not 
very powerful kingdom of Spain, while in reality 
its territory is one of the most extensive in the 
world, embracing, besides Spain, Mexico, Central 
and South America, the West Indies, the Canary 
and Philippine Islands, and parts of Africa. On 
this side of the Atlantic alone it is spoken by 
sixty millions of people, so that here on our own 
continent English is really in the minority ! 

Spanish, as is well known, is an offspring from 
the Latin. When the rude barbarians of the 
North came down in such hordes upon Southern 
Europe and conquered the Roman Empire, their 
language, the Gothic, mingled with the Latin, and 
in time produced the " Romance Languages," — 
French, Spanish, and Italian. The principal 
changes the Latin underwent were a general soft- 
ening, and a loss in declension, for the compli- 
cated system of the Latin was too much for the 
rude Northern tribes to master; and doubtless 
children of the present generation, first grappling 



31.2 THE MELODY OF SPANISH. 

with the Latin grammar, would gladly follow their 
example if they could. From its kinship to the 
Latin and French, a knowledge of these two lan- 
guages is a great help in learning Spanish, which 
is generally considered a very easy language to 
acquire, as indeed it is, although there is a vast 
difference between a thorough and a superficial 
knowledge. It is very easy, especially with a 
knowledge of Latin and French, to learn to read 
Spanish, and to speak all that is required to ex- 
press the ordinary wants of everyday life, such as 
a traveller would need in making a journey in 
Mexico, the West Indies, or Spain ; but it is no 
easy or insignificant task to thoroughly master the 
language, and even the most scholarly will find 
sufficient intellectual gymnastics in the study. 

During our journey we heard various languages, 
but none were so pleasing as this. There is some- 
thing about the sound of it and the manner in 
which the people speak it, that is perfectly capti- 
vating, and makes everybody that hears it wish to 
speak it too. Its musical character is well known 
and generally recognized. It can, however, sound 
very disagreeable, if uttered by a rude person, 
with a harsh voice ; and in some parts of Guate- 



GEORGE ELIOT ON SPANISH. 3^3 

mala, as used by the country women, it was no 
more pleasing than the quacking of ducks, which 
it very much resembled. But when spoken by a 
cultured person it is to our ears as sweet as any 
music in the world. George Eliot speaks thus 
of it : — 

The talk of Spanish men 

With Southern intonation, vowels turned 

Caressingly between the consonants, 

Persuasive, willing, with such intervals 

As music borrows from the wooing birds, 

That plead with subtly curving, sweet descent. 

There is none sweeter save the Italian, and what 
that gains in this respect it loses in strength, in 
which the Spanish is by no means wanting. From 
the Arabic during the eight hundred years of the 
Moorish rule in Spain, it acquired vigor and rich- 
ness and that oriental coloring which distinguishes 
it among the other Romance languages. It pos- 
sesses, also, a majesty which makes it well fitted 
to express dignity and pathos, and it is very 
poetic, far more so than the English. This char- 
acteristic we often noticed even in our guides, who, 
from the common people as they were, frequently 
surprised us with the poetic manner in which 
they expressed very ordinary and comrnonplace 



314 FLEXIBILITY OF SPANISH. 

thoughts. Brevity and conciseness are also char- 
acteristic, for the Spanish often expresses in two 
words what the English can only say in four or 
five, and this conciseness of course renders it 
the more forcible and pithy. Spanish proverbs are 
noted above all others for their sharpness, deep 
thought, and wit. 

Its great wealth of polite phrases has already 
been mentioned. These are often of a most ex- 
travagant nature, but the majority of the forms of 
courtesy and salutation are very pleasing, and 
supply a lack which exists in our own language. 
It is also very rich in augmentatives and diminu- 
tives, which are both pretty and expressive, and 
by these and other properties the language is 
rendered capable of expressing finer shades of 
meaning than the English. 

Every language, like every nation, has its own 
part to perform and its own peculiar characteris- 
tics. The Spanish language seems especially 
adapted to express the tenderest relations of life, 
and the strongest and most exalted emotions of 
mankind — as love, affection, devotion, patriotism, 
reverence, and even religious worship. As bear- 
ing on this point, and showing this characteristic 



SPECIAL USES OF SPANISH. 3 1 5 

of the language, we would mention a teacher of 
languages who often speaks Spanish with his 
wife, preferring it to his own language (French) 
or to hers (English). It is well known that it is a 
most unusual and remarkable thing for a French- 
man to praise any language save his own, much 
more to prefer any other to his own, yet we met 
in our travels a most highly cultivated French 
lady who also expressed this preference, and we 
felt there was no higher compliment possible fof 
the Spanish. As illustrating the especial office of 
Spanish, we would also refer to a great linguist 
who, it is said, spoke " German to his horses, 
French to his valet, Italian to his mistress, and 
Spanish to his family," and to an eminent elo- 
cutionist who said, " English is the language for 
business, French for conversation, Italian for love- 
making, and Spanish for God," 

Spanish countries, the Spanish people, and the 
Spanish language certainly have a fascination for 
Americans. It may be because of the diametri- 
cally opposite characteristics ; for one is an affec- 
tionate, demonstrative, exceedingly polite, slow, 
and improvident race, while the other is in com- 
parison a cold, undemonstrative, brusque, nervous, 



3l6 A STRANGE FASCINATION 

and energetic race. There is something about 
these countries, when you have once visited them, 
that makes you long to go again. Every one of 
our party in Mexico began to talk about going 
to Spain the next year, and even now with any 
thought of a journey first comes to our minds 
Spain, or the West Indies, or Mexico, and we 
verily believe they have, in one sense, more at- 
tractions than all the glories of Europe. Bayard 
Taylor, the great traveller, expressed this senti- 
ment in writing of his travels in Spain. He 
says, " In fact, although I have seen little fine 
scenery since leaving Seville, have had the worst 
of weather, and no very pleasant travelling expe- 
riences, the country has exercised a fascination 
over me which I do not quite understand. I feel 
myself constantly on the point of making a vow 
to return again." 

But to continue our homeward journey. At El 
Paso the Mexican Central ends, and we changed 
to the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. 
Having to wait two hours for the train, we had 
time to walk about and see the town, which is 
merely a railroad centre, the meeting-place of five 
different railroads. 



REMINDERS OF MEXICO. 31/ 

The railroad crosses a corner of Texas and then 
enters New Mexico, which it traverses from south 
to north. This territory, once belonging to Mex- 
ico, bears marks of it still in adobe villages, in quite 
a percentage of Mexican inhabitants, and in its 
quaint capital, Santa Fe, the oldest town in North 
America. The whole territory is a grazing coun- 
try and has a barren look, although not as desolate 
as that through which we travelled the day before. 
Steele says of it : " Burro trains, adobe castles, 
higgledy-piggledy villages are everywhere. Sun- 
shine of the yellowest variety seems to shine 
always. It is a world of black lava blocks, gaunt 
cacti, frowning ranges of sierras, and profound 
and unbroken peace. There are sometimes run- 
ning streams that seem to have been mysteriously 
coaxed uphill, and gardens whose green luxuriance 
surprises the eye." 

The next morning we arrived at the station of 
Las Vegas. Six miles from here are the hot 
springs, a charming watering-place and health 
resort. We had made our plans to stop here and 
rest, as it had been recommended as a place well 
worth visiting ; but when we reached here all the 
tempting pictures and descriptions displayed in 



3l8 KIT CARSON'S CABIN. 

our books and railway guides could not induce us 
to stop, so anxious were we to press on toward 
home. It only seemed as if the train would not 
go fast enough. 

Leaving New Mexico we passed through the 
southeast corner of Colorado, in sight of the Span- 
ish Peaks, and then crossed the state line into 
Kansas. One of the passengers pointed out to 
us the old Santa Fe trail and the rambling house 
of Kit Carson, in a lonely region. Near this 
spot the train passes through quite a remarkable 
tunnel, and we went forward to get the full benefit 
of the scene. The road at this point is built on 
the hillside and has quite a grade. 

We traversed Kansas from west to east, — a 
flourishing state, with rich soil and fine climate, 
growing cities, and a progressive population. Be- 
tween six and seven o'clock that evening (Tues- 
day) we arrived at Kansas City, and were so tired 
with five days' continuous travelling that we con- 
cluded to stop for rest and refreshment. This is 
a great railroad and business centre, one of those 
western cities which have sprung up like mush- 
rooms in a night and attained marvellous growth. 

The next day we left at evening by the Chicago, 



A FAMILIAR FACE. 319 

Rock Island & Pacific, crossing Missouri and 
Illinois, and arriving in Chicago the next after- 
noon, where we stopped, and were entertained by 
the representative of the firm. His was the first 
familiar face we had seen since we left home, and 
if he ever meets anybody more delighted to see 
him he may count himself a happy man ; for how 
welcome a sight a familiar face was, only those can 
appreciate who have had a like experience. He 
showed us all about the city, which we had not 
visited since the fire, and we noted great 
changes. We had also the pleasure of meeting 
the rest of the family of our travelling compan- 
ions in Mexico. 

But we could not linger long even in so attrac- 
tive a city as Chicago ; our great wish was now 
to reach home as soon as possible, and we began 
to look up the various routes to Boston. Almost 
every state after entering the United States had 
in it some acquaintance or some college friend 
which tempted us to stop ; and now especially 
were there friends by the way, but still greater 
than all other desires was that to reach home. 
It was Friday, and we thought of the Sunday 
which was soon to come, when all the family would 



320 HOME AGAIN. 

be at home longing for us even as we longed for 
them ; we thought what a pleasant day it would be 
to spend together, and how dreary if apart, and 
thereupon decided we must take the route which 
would bring us home Sunday morning. Accord- 
ingly we left Chicago that night by the Michi- 
gan Central. At Niagara the train stopped long 
enough to give us a fine view of the Falls. Satur- 
day we were in the southern part of Canada, and 
"winter, lingering in the lap of spring," treated 
us to a snow-storm, as if to defy our attempt 
to escape his reign. What a change had come 
over the scene since the beginning of our railway 
journey, and how far the "iron horse " had brought 
us, even from the glory and sunshine of the tropics 
to the cold storms of winter ! 

In the morning we were once more in dear old 
Boston, and joyfully greeted by the friends who 
sadly parted with us so many weeks before. What 
joy there was that day in many hearts we shall not 
undertake to tell ! 

Very few, perhaps none, save ourselves, who 
took this journey, can ever know the whole. 
Much pleasure there was, to be sure, but 
more pain ; much to enjoy, but far more to en- 



RE TROSPECTION. 321 

dure. Without an aim, a definite purpose, it could 
never have been accomplished. One went with 
all the ardor and zeal of an explorer ; the other, 
at first, chiefly with the thought of pleasure, but, 
as it proved in reality, to help, sustain, and care 
for her leader. 

Our sojourn in Mexico and Guatemala City was a 
real pleasure, but what enjoyment we derived from 
the rest is much to our own credit. We think even 
Mark Tapley, if he had been with us, would have 
felt he had at last found places where there was 
real " credit in being jolly." Begging the liberty 
to speak a word for ourselves, we will say that 
hearts less brave, courage less persistent, judg- 
ment less sound to plan, and will less strong to 
execute, would have fainted and fallen by the way 
before the journey was half completed. Neither 
would we fail gratefully to acknowledge the divine 
Providence who as truly led and kept us as He did 
the children of Israel in their wanderinsrs. 



